December 21 marked the 25th anniversary of the maiden flight of the world's largest transport aircraft, the An-225 Mriya, the press service of the Antonov state enterprise, the aircraft’s creator, announced.
The An-225 Mriya’s takeoff weight of up to 640 tons far exceeds those of other aircraft, and it is 80 tons more than the takeoff weight of the A380 airplane. The An-225 Mriya has set 240 international and national records, including the recording for transporting the heaviest load (253.8 tons), the heaviest single-piece cargo (187.6 tons), and the longest cargo (42.1-meters).
The An-225 Mriya was developed as part of a promising space program in which the airplane was to be the first step in an airborne spacecraft launch system (a flying cosmodrome), with a space shuttle secured on top of its fuselage.
From the outset, the main task of the An-225 was to transport various parts of the Energiya launch vehicle and the Buran space shuttle, which were manufactured at enterprises in the central regions of the former USSR, and the final assembly took place at the Baikonur cosmodrome. The transport distance was 1,500-2,500 kilometers. In addition, depending on the tasks being performed in orbit, the Buran space shuttle was capable of landing at various aerodromes, from where it needed to be transported back to the Baikonur cosmodrome.
In total, the An-225 Mriya performed 14 flights with a total duration of 28 hours and 27 minutes with the Buran space shuttle on it. The flights were performed from aerodromes located in various climatic zones of the former USSR. The An-225 remained in operation for some time after the collapse of the USSR, but it stopped flying in 1994.
The "second maiden" flight of an upgraded version of the An-225 took place on May 7, 2001. The airplane began operating on the commercial cargo transport market. According to the press service of Antonov, by that time Antonov had many orders for delivery of goods with weights and sizes exceeding the capacity of the An-124 Ruslan heavy transport airplane. Therefore, it was decided to bring the An-225 onto the market. Within a month, the An-225 performed about 20 test flights and completed a certification program.
The An-124 Ruslan heavy transport airplane, which was created by the Antonov aircraft design bureau, was selected as the basis for construction of the An-225. Full development of the new airplane took three and a half years.
As reported, the State Aviation Service of Ukraine recently extended the life span of the An-225 Mriya heavy transport airplane by 25 to 45 years or from 8,000 to 20,000 flight hours and 8,000 landings.
The Antonov state enterprise’s president and chief designer Dmytro Kiva said in November 2012 that the second An-225 Mriya airplane would be ready for operation within 2-3 years. The Antonov Airlines’ Executive Director Kostiantyn Lushakov stated in May 2011 that completion of the An-225 Mriya required at least USD 300 million.
