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Description

The reduction of the ground structures on Baikonur and the beginning of making heavy launchers have increased the air load transports. The plane VM-T "Atlant" can transport loads of 50 t, but the future projects planned to carry loads of 200 t to Baikonur. Antonov studied the way of building a transport plane of greater capacity by making modifications on the An-124 model, it created the An-225. The An-225 Mriya ("Мрiя" means Dream in Ukrainian) has a load capacity of 250 t (initialy 225 t), is 84 m long, 88.4 m of scale and 18.1 m in height. It made its first flight on December 21, 1988 (breaking 106 world records) and transported Bourane (60 t) to Le Bourget (France) in 1989.

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It is until now the largest working plane in the world, there is only one specimen of it and it is used by Antonov Airline for exceptional transport missions (An-225 at Gostomel airport). Mriya now has the Ukrainian flag painted on its drift and is recorded under the name UR-82060. Moreover, it has undergoes some modifications such as the addition of new safety systems, navigation and communication. According to the manufacturer the fuselage was reinforced to support heavier payloads. Lastly, it was equipped with a new cockpit and a new passengers cabin. Those improvements cost more than 20 million dollars in 2000.

Construction of a second An-225 had also begun during the 1980s but was stopped in 1994. Despite the numerous rumors about the continuation of the assembly of the second plane this one has never been finished.


Evolution of the patterns on the fuselage:

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Pattern of 1988
Pattern of 2000 (after the renovation)
Pattern of 2007
Pattern of 2009 (August)

Even if it is the biggest fret plane in the world the Mriya is not really profitable, it's used only when the load is too voluminous to be put in a An-124. Nobody asked yet to Antonov Airlines to buy this plane. In fact it's more economic to use 2 Russlan (An-124) than the Mriya. But the Mriya is a technological showcase for this company and each move of it come with articles in the local press.

The An-225 should have been later used as a launcher for the MAKS shuttle and the english HOTOL shuttle.

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News of the Mriya on the blog.

Known variants

  • An-224: Original designation for the An-225 except it retained the rear cargo door of the An-124. (not built)
  • An-225: Heavy transport designed to ferry the Buran space shuttle and components of the Energia rocket. (1 built)
  • An-225-100: New designation for the An-225 after being modernized in 2000 with updated communications gear, navigation equipment, a collision avoidance system, and noise reduction features for use as a heavy commercial transport. (1 converted)
  • An-325: Proposal for an enlarged variant of the An-225 with an additional engine mounted on each inboard pylons and able to carry an increased payload, proposed primarily as a possible launch platform for Russian or foreign space vehicles. (not built)


Interestingly enough, the Soviets flew the to the June 1989 Paris Show aboard the AN-225 carrier apparently even before technicians had to conduct a thorough post-flight after its only flight in 1988. This would seem to another, very literal example of technology. The Soviets' penchant for technologies also extended to timing, they often strove to have technological projects come to some of completion at key anniversaries the like. For example, the was pressuring Korolev to launch in time to mark the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution October 1957. The Soviets also tried to respond in kind surpass their adversaries' achievements on world stage.

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An-225

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Antonov Airlines

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Mriya

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Antonov 225

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