Why was only one An-225 giant transport plane produced (in fact, there was another one that only had its body built and not all of it)? Is it really an "unsuccessful" model? Absolutely not. Only one An-225 giant transport plane was built for a very simple reason, as it was originally a highly specialized aircraft designed to transport the "Blizzard" space shuttle.The size of the An-225 is really very largeAfter all, it was not the first time for the Soviet Union to use a large aircraft to carry a space shuttle in a piggyback style. Americans had done so in those years, so they modified a Boeing 747 large passenger aircraft and added relevant connecting mechanisms on the back of the fuselage. Since the space shuttle is located on the back of the fuselage, which has a great impact on the vertical tail steering effect of the aircraft, the space shuttle transport aircraft changed the original cross tail to an H-shaped tail, and the An-225 also followed this design.Transportation“snowstorm”The Space ShuttleThe task of this type of space shuttle transport aircraft is also very simple, which is to transport the space shuttle from the manufacturing plant to the launch site, or from the landing site to the launch site. For example, the US space shuttle has a launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida, but a landing site at Edwards Base in California. To transport the landing space shuttle from the west to the east of the United States, flatbed trucks are definitely not practical, and shipping is not efficient. Large aircraft can only be used to carry the space shuttle all the way there; The Soviet Union was the same. Although the takeoff and landing of the "Blizzard" space shuttle were both at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, its manufacturing was done at the Tuxino Aviation Factory on the outskirts of Moscow, and it had to use the An-225 to transport it from Moscow to Kazakhstan.Distinctive H-shaped tail wingTherefore, in the final analysis, the An-225 aircraft is a very special and specialized type in the Soviet transport aircraft spectrum. Unlike the An-12, Il-76, An-22, and An-124, it is a model that "does not enter the three boundaries". This also determines how many aircraft it will not build. After all, the Soviet Union planned only five space shuttles at that time, just as many as the United States. It is sufficient to build two An-225s, with one main and one backup. After all, there are not so many space shuttles for it to transport?Painting of An-225 in different periodsAfter the collapse of the Soviet Union, the An-225 lost its space shuttle transport mission and was fortunate enough to take on the role of a large transport aircraft. Due to its highly specialized design and high requirements for the flight area, the An-124 Ruslan, another model of Antonov aircraft, was not as popular as the An-124 after transporting oversized components.An-2222225However, in the end, this situation has nothing to do with the An-225 itself, as it was originally designed to transport space shuttles. It can complete the task of transporting space shuttles, and for this type of equipment, its design is successful. As for the problems of poor economic efficiency when undertaking routine transportation tasks after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, at most it indicates that the design of the An-225 is too specialized, with poor universality and versatility.Source: Military Express
