That’s because the increasing pressure of the atmosphere at lower altitude could collapse the entire structure, likely causing a catastrophic accident. The loss of pressure inside the cavernous vessel could make the descent of the aircraft impossible. In addition to the difficulty of controlling the unusual structure in the air, 3M-T pilots had to carefully monitor the internal pressure inside the tanks of the Energia rocket itself. NASA used a similar device to load the space shuttle atop a Boeing 747. The Buran rocket is installed using a mate-demate device. While the Mriya appeared to be the Soviet’s best bet, its development was well behind the Buran and Energia, so the engineers went looking for an interim solution. Engineers at the Antonov Design Bureau even considered a larger aircraft, called Gerakl (Heracles), which could serve as a flying launch pad for a large space plane. Today’s world-famous An-225 Mriya transport aircraft appeared on the drawing board, which, as its name suggests, could carry up to 225 tons of cargo (a fully-loaded Buran orbit weighed just over 100 tons). With helicopters out of the picture and several existing fixed-wing aircraft ruled out as too small, Moscow decided to custom-build a transport plane large enough to carry the rocket and the orbiter. But, during one of the trials, a slight turbulence caused ominous pendulum swings of the simulated cargo, forcing terrified pilots to dump the payload. The brand-new Mi-26 helicopter could lift up to 26 tons and looked promising enough to initiate a series of gut-wrenching flight tests to prove that a duo, trio, or even a quartet of helicopters, flying in formation, could lift and carry the necessary load. Realistic options were quickly narrowed down to air transport, but no existing Soviet aircraft had nearly enough capacity to carry such a large payload. Instead, the Soviets considered every conceivable mode of transportation, including an oversized highway, a scaled-up railroad, or even a giant water skimmer with a liftoff mass of 3,500 tons. Moscow considered building the rocket right next to the launch site (as was done with the ill-fated N1 moon rocket) but gave up on the idea because moving an army of workers to the semi-desert-thousands of miles from the closest population center-would cost way too much. Nevertheless, we can wholeheartedly support the restoration effort from an avgeek point of view and hope Ukraine does bring the Mriya back eventually.A Mi-26 helicopter lifts a Tu-134 airplane, 2009. Given its very niche role and limited demand, any new An-225 would be more of a pride project than anything else. Given the amount of humanitarian and infrastructural repairs required in Ukraine once the conflict ends, spending State money on such a project would not be a good look. Ukraine has admitted that it would take at least five years to reinstate the Mriya and will certainly be looking for outside investors to fund the project. However, even that could be somewhat optimistic, with the Ukrainian state defense company previously estimating the restoration at over $3 billion. Zelensky has estimated the cost of this project at 500 million Euros ($555 million). If Ukraine does embark on the rebuild, the second plane could serve as a base for the reconstruction. Ukraine's President Zelensky has pledged that the An-225 will be rebuilt, but it remains to be seen when and even if this will come to fruition. Heartbreakingly, it had recently been refurbished to allow it to continue flying until at least 2033. On February 27th, 2022, Ukraine confirmed the airplane had been destroyed at Hostomel Airport, and photos began to emerge of the scale of the damage to the aircraft. In fact, Mriya has set multiple world records for carrying outsized cargo and for its own sheer size and weight.īut the conflict in its home region was not done yet, and when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Mriya was in the firing line. In June 2004, it flew with four pipe-laying machines from Prague to Tashkent, setting a payload record of 247 tonnes. It set the record for the heaviest single cargo item in 2009, flying a 189-tonne generator to Armenia for use in a gas power plant. The BBC previously estimated the cost to hire the Mriya at $30,000 per hour, but for customers who needed to move huge, heavy items far across the world very quickly, it proved its worth. It returned to operations in 2001, and offered up for charter for the biggest and most complex missions.
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