Fact File

The Antonov An-225 Мрия (Mriya - dream in the Ukrainian language) took off from Kiev with the space shuttle Buran, en route to the Paris Airshow. The total weight at take-off was a 1,234,600 pounds (560,005 kilograms), the greatest weight ever lifted by an aircraft. The An-225 was derived from the earlier four-engine An-124. It is operated by a flight crew of six to seven. The airplane is 84.00 metres (275.59 feet) long, with a wingspan of 88.40 metres (290.03 feet) and a height of 18.10 metres (59.38 feet). The total wing area is 905.0 square metres (9,741.3 square feet). Mriya weighs approximately 250,000 kilograms (551,156 pounds), empty and its maximum take-off weight (MTOW ) is 600,000 kilograms (1,322,774 pounds). The maximum payload is 250,000 kilograms (551,156 pounds).The cargo hold of the An-225 is 43.35 metres

(142.22 feet) long, 6.40 metres

(21.00 feet) wide and

4.40 metres (14.44 feet) high.

The usable volume is 1,300 cubic metres (45,909 cubic feet). The An-225 is powered by six Ivchenko Progress (Lotarev) D-18T turbofan engines producing 229.848 kilonewtons (51,672 pounds of thrust) each. The D-18T is a three-spool axial-flow high-bypass turbofan engine. The 15-stage compressor has a single-stage fan, seven intermediate-pressure and seven high-pressure stages. The six-stage turbine consists of one high and one intermediate-pressure stage, as well as a four-stage fan turbine. The engines are 5.400 metres (17.717 feet) long, 2.937 metres (9.636 feet)high and 2.792 metres (9.160 feet) wide. They weigh 4,100 kilograms (9,039 pounds) each. The Mriya has a cruise speedof700kilometresperhour(435milesperhour)anditsmaximumspeedis 850 kilometres per hour (528 miles per hour). The service ceiling is 11,145 metres (36,565 feet). Mriya carries a maximum fuel load of 300,000 kilograms (661,387 pounds, or 98,567 US gallons, Jet A-1 and has a practical range of 4,500 kilometres (2,796 miles). Its maximum range is 15,400 kilometres (9,569 miles). The world’s heaviest airplane, Mriya is the only one in existence. It was built specifically to transport Buran. A second An-225 was partially constructed, but never finished. Buran, the Soviet space shuttle, made one unmanned flight into orbit on 15 November 1988. It was destroyed 12 May 2002 when its hangar collapsed, killing eight workers.