Guwahati: The world’s largest plane, the Antonov 225 or simply AN225 which was destroyed in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war was said to be an engineering marvel.

The plane has multiple records during its operations and had been named Mriya which in Ukrainian meant “dream”. It cost between $250 million and $300 million dollars to build the massive cargo plane. It was built in the late 1980s.

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Here are 10 facts about the world’s largest plane:

  1. Only one Antonov AN-225 was ever built to completion. 
  2. A second construction of the AN-225 was started in the 1980s as well but in 2009, the plans were abandoned
  3. After the plane was destroyed, the parent company of Antonov, UkrOboronProm said it would cost over $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) and could take over five years to restore it
  4. The giant can fly at a maximum speed of 850 km/h and can cruise at 800 km/h
  5. It has a range of 15,400 km with maximum fuel while with 200 tonnes payload it has the range of 4,000 km
  6. The service ceiling of the Mriya is 11,000 m or 36,000 ft
  7. Since Mriya was the only one ever made, it could only be chartered and not bought
  8. Ukroboronprom said that now their mission is to ensure that the restoration expenses are covered by Russia
  9. The plane was initially built as part of the Soviet aeronautical programme and took its first flight in 1988
  10. Mriya has set 124 world and 214 national speed, altitude and weight-to-altitude records

Initially, it was not clear if the plane was destroyed or not as there were multiple reports about the plane from various angles.

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However, the company and the Ukrainian authorities announced that the giant of the skies, the AN225 was destroyed in the Russian Invasion on February 24.