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It's a plane that would have never have been built today. It burns up to 20 tons of fuel an hour,
and it's too large for a third of the world's airports. But this cold war relic was built to
do what no other aircraft in the world could: lift enormous components for the Soviet
space program, and even launch spacecraft into orbit by serving as an air-launch platform.
The Soviets had big plans for this plane, but by the time they unveiled it to the world at
the 1989 Paris Air Show, it was a plane built for a future that would never be.
In 1982 the Soviet Union begins airlifting components of a new space launch system, strapping
enormous parts to the back of aircraft, and flying them thousands of kilometers across the country.
They're racing to build the counterpart to the American Space Shuttle, a rival spacecraft
and launch system called Energia-Buran. Like earlier Soviet spacecraft, it's being built here
at aerospace manufacturing facilities in the west, and it'll be launched here thousands of kilometers
away. But unlike earlier spacecraft, Energia-Buran components are too large to be transported using
railways, so they'll have to be airlifted. In a rush the Soviets convert 1950s-era bombers for the job,
but the planes aren't up to the task. They can only lift smaller components, and even those
have to be stripped down to make them as light as possible. To carry fully assembled components,
some of which are nearly 60 meters long, the Soviets are going to need a much bigger plane.
The Americans solved their need to transport space shuttles by converting Boeing 747s into shuttle
carriers. The jumbo jet was an ideal plane for the job, large and powerful it was modified by reducing
weight, strengthening its fuselage, and adding additional stabilizers. And unlike the Soviets,
the Americans would also use rail lines, and the largest components would be transported over
water using barges. Only the shuttle orbiter would need to be airlifted. The soviets on the other hand,
would need to airlift their entire launch system, including giant rocket boosters and core stages.
And with Soviet leadership pressing to start launches in 1988, engineers had little time to
come up with a solution. So, naturally they looked to the largest plane the Soviet Union had to offer.
Under development in the early 1980s the Antonov 124 would enter service as the largest and most
capable transport in the world, and just in time for Energia-Buran launches.
But even the enormous 124 wasn't going to cut it, engineers would have to make the plane even larger.
And to do, it they'd lengthen the fuselage and add route extensions to increase the wingspan.
For more power they'd give the plane two more engines. With a strength in fuselage, the new plane
would easily carry a Buran orbiter, but larger components would obstruct the tail. So engineers
redesigned the vertical stabilizer. To deal with the new plane's immense weight and to
prevent it from damaging runways, they'd give it a new landing gear: distributing weight across
32 wheels. Larger and more capable, this new titan of the skies would be designated as the An-225
the An-225 is unlike any aircraft in the world. Six turbofans put out a staggering 309,000 pounds of
thrust, giving it the ability to lift nearly double the payload of its western contemporaries. It's a
plane so large, the Wright Brothers could have made their first flight entirely inside its cargo hold.
The 225's primary mission would be to carry Energia-Buran components, but designers also
envisioned using the plane to do what had never been done before. Launch spacecraft into orbit
directly from mid-air. That's because the 225 would be powerful enough to fly a fully-fueled space
plane and its payload up to the lower stratosphere, where it would then launch at an altitude
of 8 kilometers. Allowing it to reach orbit at one-tenth the cost of launching from the ground.
The reusable launch system would complement the Energia-Buran
and its development was well underway by 1988. The Soviets planned to build several Antonov An-225s
to serve as the backbone of their space program for decades to come.
In November of 1988, the Soviets stunned the world with the first unmanned launch of a Buran. Up until
that point, few in the west would have had any idea that the Soviets had developed their own version
of the Space Shuttle. And the following year the soviets gave western audiences a first-hand
look as the enormous 225 carried a Buran to the Paris Air Show. The monstrous plane drew crowds,
but experts were puzzled. To get to the air show, the Soviets had flown their brand new spacecraft
right through a rainstorm. A move NASA would have considered reckless with their Space Shuttle.
But by this point, damaging the Buran was the least of the Soviet Union's concerns. Because by 1989, the
country was going bankrupt and could no longer afford the Energia-Buran. And it meant that the
spacecraft would never launch again. Without the need to airlift orbiters core stages and boosters,
the 225 was paraded around at Western air shows while the Soviets struggled to find an alternative
use for the giant plane. And it seemed like nothing was off the table. One proposal considered using
the 225 to deploy a Ekranoplans for maritime rescue missions. The British looked at using the
plane as a launch platform for their own proposed space plane. At one point there was even a
proposal for a massive triple deck airliner. But none of these plans ever materialized. In 1991, the
Soviet Union collapsed and before long, the 225 was sent into storage outside of Kiev, Ukraine where it
was scavenged for parts. The world's largest plane now seemed destined for the scrapyard.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's Antonov Design Bureau struggled to find customers
for their aircraft. But they did find a new source of revenue chartering out their existing fleet to
fly cargo. With An-124s having more lifting power than any aircraft in the world, Antonov
found a brisk business transporting everything from giant electrical generators to locomotives.
But every so often, they'd get a request to fly cargo that even their 124's
couldn't manage. By the late 90s, the case for resurrecting the giant 225 was building.
But it wasn't a straightforward decision. Unlike the smaller 124 which was purpose built for cargo,
the 225 was a relic of the Soviet space program, with a fuselage heavily reinforced to handle
external payloads. And unlike the 124, the plane had no rear cargo door, which would slow the process of
loading cargo. But Antonov bet that the plane could fill a niche. And after years in storage, 20 million
dollars were invested into new engines, modernized avionics, and a new strengthened cargo hold.
On its first chartered flight in January of 2002, the 225 carried a payload of 187 tons.
A feat that would have otherwise required two Boeing 747 freighters. The world's largest plane
had been given a new lease on life carrying cargo that would have otherwise been impossible to fly.
And over the course of the next two decades, the 225 set new world records for the immense
payloads it transported. But the plane's outsized capabilities come with outsized costs. At upwards
of 30 thousand dollars an hour to operate, the 225 only flies when no other aircraft can do the job.
And with only one of the type ever produced, the giant plane remains in a class of its own. Drawing
crowds wherever it flies. A second half finished 225 has sat in storage for more than 30 years.
And despite regular headlines about how it one day might be finished, it's not certain if there
will ever be enough demand for a second spacecraft-transporter turned cargo plane.
The An225 was built in an era when technological advantages, whether in space or in the air, were
to be achieved no matter the cost. And in the 1970s as the Soviets were racing to develop the
Buran to catch up to the American Space Shuttle the, Americans were developing another radical
technology to gain a tactical advantage in the air. Not by flying higher or faster than the enemy.
But by being virtually invisible to radar. You can learn more about the invention of stealth
technology and the incredible F-117 Nighthawk in my latest video now on Nebula. Nebula is a
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