The world's largest cargo plane was reported destroyed in Ukraine. See the full history of the famous six-engine jet.

Advertisement

Ukraine's minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, confirmed the destruction of the mammoth An-225 Mriya following a Russian attack. The beloved plane was one-of-a-kind and built by Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov.

"Russia may have destroyed our 'Mriya'," Kuleba tweeted on Sunday. "But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail!"

Advertisement

The Antonov An-225 Mriya was a unique aircraft in the skies. If a standard cargo plane is comparable to a flying tractor-trailer, the Mriya was a flying cargo ship, thanks to its size and payload capacity.

The oversized plane was first commissioned by the Soviet Union to transport the communist state's newest spacecraft, the Buran Space Shuttle.

Advertisement

The Buran program was aimed at matching the US' newly formed space shuttle program, as seen with a similar look to NASA's space shuttle. The Soviet Union, however, didn't have a way to get the new ship to the launchpad, located in Soviet Kazakhstan.

While NASA simply strapped its space shuttle to the top of a Boeing 747 for long-range transport...

Advertisement

The Soviet Union had to commission an entirely new aircraft to carry the Buran, which it hoped would later act as an aerial launching platform.

Antonov, at the time, was one of the Soviet Union's primary aircraft manufacturers and had a focus on cargo planes.

Advertisement

The An-225 Mriya was developed from the smaller An-124 Ruslan, a four-engine cargo plane featuring a similar design.

Production of the oversized cargo bird at the behest of the Soviet government took three years, starting in the mid-1980s.

Advertisement

Design consideration was given to the idea of transporting the Russian space shuttle, as seen with the twin-tail configuration designed to capture the airflow from around any vehicle placed on top of the aircraft.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union coming shortly after the Mriya's production, however, the aircraft's original mission to carry Russian space shuttles soon evaporated and it was free to take on cargo charters full-time starting in 2001.

Advertisement

As a result, its external carrying capabilities went largely unused.

Cargo was loaded through the front of the aircraft as the nose could open up, allowing for the easy loading and unloading of cargo straight in and out.

Advertisement

Its oversized cargo hold, which measured 141 feet by 21 feet by 14.5 feet, was ideal for carrying the most obscure objects whether it be massive wind turbine blades...

...50 cars...

Advertisement

...or a military tank.

Its hold could be stuffed with more than 550,000 pounds of cargo, nearly double that of the Boeing 747-8 freighter.

Advertisement

Every aspect of the Mriya was unique with six Motor Sich D-18T engines instead of the two, three, or four found on a standard cargo aircraft.

Meanwhile, the plane had 32 wheels total, including four under the nose, to steer the massive feat of engineering.

Advertisement

When not fully loaded, the Mriya had a reported range of nearly 10,000 miles, the equivalent of the distance between New York and Sydney, Australia.

When it was weighed down, however, that came down to just under 3,000 miles — still enough to fly across the continent of Europe or from New York to Los Angeles.

Advertisement

During its history, the impressive plane broke over 200 records, including airlifting the world's heaviest freight and transporting by air the world's longest cargo.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Antonov retained control of its flagship aircraft, controlled by subsidiary Antonov Airlines that chartered the behemoth out to customers around the world. According to the BBC, the plane costs around $30,000 per hour to charter.

Advertisement

Only one of the type was ever produced, though Antonov partnered with a Chinese company to restart production in 2016.

A second plane was started but was since left unfinished. The 70%-complete airframe sits in a Ukrainian warehouse near Kyiv.

Advertisement

The Mriya's cockpit was located above the main cargo bay to give the aircraft as much capacity as possible for freight.

Having been built during the Soviet era when aircraft technology was still developing, the antiquated cockpit was cavernous and required pilots and extra flight engineers to operate the plane.

Advertisement

Four flight engineers, with two on each side of the cockpit, monitored the countless instruments and gauges to ensure the aging plane functioned safely.

The An-225 was in maintenance for two years until 2020 when it reentered service to ferry medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advertisement

In spring 2020, the plane flew from Tianjian, China to Warsaw, Poland with a 100-ton payload, which included face masks, COVID-19 tests, and other personal protective equipment.

In one of the largest cargo shipments of the pandemic, crates, pallets, and boxes were stored from floor to ceiling in the six-engine jet.

Advertisement

Antonov's "Dream" joined the massive flotilla of aircraft dedicated to transporting invaluable supplies to the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19.

The oversized aircraft joined the likes of the Boeing 747-400LCF Dreamlifter...

Advertisement

And an Airbus A380 operated by charter airline Hi Fly in a worldwide airlift of people, goods, and supplies.

While the An-225's two-year maintenance overhaul was supposed to ensure it continued to fly until at least 2033, Russian air missiles cut its life short.

Advertisement

When Russia attacked Ukraine on February 25, the plane was undergoing repair and could not leave the country, leaving it vulnerable to Russian attacks.

The plane was destroyed at Antonov Airport, also known as Hostomel Airport, in Ukraine after flying its last flight on February 5. US-funded media organization Radio Liberty shared satellite images showing the aircraft in flames.

Advertisement

According to Ukrainian state defense company Ukroboronprom, rebuilding the plane would take over five years and cost upwards of $3 billion.

"Our task is to ensure that these costs are covered by the Russian Federation, which has caused intentional damage to Ukraine's aviation and air cargo sector," Ukroboronprom said in a statement.

Advertisement