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The Antonov An-225 Mriya ( NATO reporting name: Cossack) is a strategic airlift transport airplane that was built by Antonov (ASTC). It was designed for the Soviet space program, as a replacement for the Myasishchev M-4, for the purpose of carrying the Energia rocket's boosters and to also be able to carry the Buran space shuttle in piggy-back mode (see Captive carry), much the same as the American Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Mriya means "dream" in Ukrainian.

The An-225 is an extension of the earlier An-124 design. The following items were changed:

• Fuselage barrel extensions before and behind wings
• Wing root extensions
• Two extra engines, both on the wing root extensions
• No rear ramp/door assembly
• 32-wheel landing gear system
• Two vertical stabilizers offset from the centerline, and an oversized horizontal stabilizer, as opposed to the smaller horizontal stabilizer and single centerline vertical stabilizer of the An-124

The An-225 first flew on 21 December 19881988 is a leap year starting on Friday (click on link for calendar). Events January January 2 Georgia celebrates its bicentennial statehood. January 9 Connecticut celebrates its bicentennial statehood. January 26 Australia celebrates its bicentennial day.. Only one An-225 Mriya is currently in service. It is commercially available for carrying ultra heavy and/or oversize freight. It can carry up to 250 tons (551,155 lb.) of cargo. A second Mriya was partially built—in connection with the Soviet space program—but was never completed. The idea of possibly completing the second Mriya and bringing it into service has been floated by Antonov, though this will likely depend strictly on (oversize cargo) market demand.

At 600 metric tons, the An-225 Mriya is the world's heaviest aircraft ever, although its wingspan is less than that of the " Spruce GooseThe Spruce Goose is a nickname commonly given to the Hughes H-4 Hercules an aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company. It is the largest flying boat, and has the largest wingspan of any aircraft ever built. Due to wartime restrictions on", Howard Hughes' flying boat, which never went beyond a single short low-altitude test flight. Both the An-124 and An-225 are larger than the C-5 GalaxyC-5 Galaxy Description RoleHeavy strategic airlift transport Crew7 (pilot, copilot, two flight engineers, three loadmasters) Dimensions Length247. 3 m Wingspan222. 89 m Height65. 84 m Wing area6,200 sq ft576 m² Weights Empty337,937 lb153,285 kg Loaded769,, the largest aircraft in the U.S. inventory.

In NovemberNovember is also the letter N in the NATO phonetic alphabet. November is the eleventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 30 days. From the Latin novem for " nine". It was originally the ninth month of the year in the early Roman calendar, w of 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co, FAIThe Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) is a standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. It was founded in 1905. External link . placed the An-225 Mriya in the Guinness Book of Records for its 240 records and overall outstanding aerial performance.