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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 couldlift 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 westand 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 systemincluding 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 itengineers 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 stratospherewhere 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 showthe 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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世界上最大的飞机为什么苏联人真的建造了 AN-225 Mriya(The World’s Largest Plane: Why The Soviets Really Built The AN-225 Mriya)

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    joey joey 發佈於 2021 年 05 月 31 日
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