An-225/Mriya

Even as the VM-T Atlant began its test flight program, the Russians continued to study more capable carrier aircraft that could transport elements of the Energiya – Buran system in one piece. Since no existing aircraft was capable of doing that, it was clear that the only way out of this problem was to develop a dedicated airplane. Not only would such an aircraft transport elements of Energiya-Buran, it could also serve as a launch platform for small air-launched reusable spacecraft that NPO Molniya

had begun studying in the late 1970s/early 1980s. These studies (“System 49” and “Bizan”) initially focused on the use of the An-124 Ruslan, but it eventually turned out that a more capable aircraft would be required (see Chapter 9).

All this led to the idea to build a heavier version of the Ruslan that eventually became known as the An-225 or Mriya (Ukrainian for “dream”). By the summer of 1984, after just about one year of work, engineers at the Antonov bureau had nailed down the basic design details. The plane would have forward and aft fuselage plugs to increase length as well as wing inserts to extend span and allow the installation of two additional Lotaryov D-18T turbofans beyond the four usually flown on Ruslan. The number of main landing gear assemblies was increased from five per side to seven to handle the increased take-off weight. This resulted in a 32-wheel landing gear system (two nose and fourteen main wheel bogies, seven per side, each with two wheels). The conventional tail assembly of the An-124 was changed to a twin-fin assembly to ensure controllability with a large cargo mounted on the back. This also obviated the need for covering the aft section of Buran with a tail cone (as was the case on the VM-T). The rear loading ramp was deleted to reduce weight, but the front loading ramp was retained. Payloads could be installed inside its 47 m long and 6.4 m wide cargo hold or on the back of the plane, in which case they could be 7-10 m in diameter and 70 m long. With a maximum take-off weight of 600 tons and a maximum payload capacity of 250 tons, the An-225 would become the biggest cargo plane in the world. It could easily transport a fully outfitted Buran vehicle, a complete Energiya core stage, or a complete Energiya strap-on booster. Judging by drawings published at the time, there were also plans to transport space station modules atop Mriya in giant cargo canisters.

The An-225 project received strong support from Pyotr V. Balabuyev, who became the new head of the Antonov design bureau in 1984 and played a vital role

in getting it approved. The final go-ahead came in a government and party decree issued on 20 May 1987 (nr. 587-132). Constructed from a production An-125, the first Mriya (tail number CCCP-82060) was first rolled out just 1.5 years later, on 30 November 1988. After several taxi tests and take-off runs, the aircraft made its maiden test flight from the Antonov bureau’s airfield at Svyatoshino on 21 December 1988. Piloted by a seven-man crew, it smoothly touched down after a 1 hour 14 minute flight that accomplished all test objectives. Coming just about a month after the inaugural flight of Buran, Mriya’s successful debut was announced by the Soviet media the very same day. In early February 1989 it was first shown to Soviet and foreign journalists at the Kiev airport “Borispol”, where it was even briefly inspected by Mikhail Gorbachov. On 22 March 1989 the An-225 made an historic test flight that broke more than 100 aviation records, the most important being the highest take-off mass ever achieved. Carrying a payload of 155 tons, the aircraft weighed 508 tons, exceeding the previous record (set by a Boeing 747-400) by more than 100 tons.

Several weeks later the Mriya flew to Baykonur for a series of brief test flights with the flown Buran vehicle in the first half of May 1989. Then, on 21 May, the 560-ton combination took off for a 4 hour 25 minute flight from the cosmodrome to Kiev, covering a total distance of 2,700 km. Two days later the combination flew to the Moscow area for a short stay in Zhukovskiy before returning back to Kiev. On 7 June Mriya and Buran made a 3.5 hour non-stop flight to Le Bourget to become the star attraction of the 38th Paris Air Show. Observers were surprised to see Buran being flown into Le Bourget through light rainfall. NASA’s Space Shuttle Orbiter is

never flown through rainfall or even through clouds while being ferried by the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, with a weather reconnaissance aircraft flying about 150 km ahead to give adequate warning to the Boeing crew to avoid clouds and rain. No such weather reconnaissance aircraft accompanied Mriya/Buran to Paris, although French Mirage fighters met the combination as it entered French airspace and escorted it to Le Bourget. After a week at Le Bourget, Mriya returned Buran to Baykonur and then made a transatlantic flight to Canada in August to an air show in Vancouver.

Although Mriya made several more appearances at Western air shows (without Buran) in the early 1990s, it gradually lost its raison d’etre as the Soviet Union collapsed and the Energiya-Buran program was canceled. Construction of a second Mriya was discontinued and the only flown Mriya was grounded in April 1994 after having logged 339 flights lasting a total of 671 hours. Fourteen of those flights (28 hours 27 minutes) were with Buran. Mriya never flew any elements of the Energiya rocket. Plans to use Mriya as a launch platform for the British HOTOL spaceplane and NPO Molniya’s MAKS spaceplane never materialized either. Instead, Mriya was placed in storage and many of its parts were “cannibalized” for use on the An-124 Ruslan. Around the turn of the century the Antonov bureau spent $20 million to upgrade the aircraft with new avionics and other modern equipment. The updated An-225, operated jointly by Antonov Airlines and the British firm Air Foyle, entered service in May 2001 as a commercial transport for heavy and oversized freight. On 11 September 2001 the An-225 once again made history by carrying a record cargo of 253 tons [8].