1. An-225 Mriya is the heaviest airlift cargo aircraft ever to take to the sky.
2. "Mriya" means "Dream" in Ukrainian.
3. The maximum takeoff weight is 640 tons.
4. It was designed as an air transport system for the Soviet Space Shuttle Buran.
5. There is only one of these planes in existence.
6. The airplane was designed in the USSR and manufactured by Kiev Mechanical Plant in 1988.
7. The An-225 is 84 metres long and 18 metres high.
8. It transported a payload of 156.3 tons on March 22, 1989 which broke 110 air world records - a record in itself.
9. The pressurized cargo hold is 1,300 m3 (46,000 cu ft) in volume.
10. Up to 80 passenger cars could be loaded inside it.
11. Fueling time ranges from half an hour to a day and a half.
12. This plane is 11 meters longer than an Airbus 380, with a wingspan nine metres longer.
13. It's also eight meters longer and has a 20 meter-larger wingspan than a Boeing 747.
14. This plane could fit a Boeing-737 inside it.
15. It can reach a maximum speed of 850 km/h, or 528 mph.
16. Each engine has a takeoff power of about 12,500 hp.
17. The type's first flight in commercial service departed from Stuttgart, Germany on 3 January 2002.
18. It flew to Thumrait, Oman with 216,000 prepared meals for American military personnel.
19. Since then it has transported all sorts of things once thought impossible to move by air, such as locomotives.
20. According to Wikipedia: "On 11 August 2009, the heaviest single cargo item ever sent via air freight was loaded onto the Antonov 225."
21. According to Tom Dowling: "It was a generator for a gas power plant in Armenia and the loading frame weighed a record 189 tonnes (420,000 lb)."
22. It was 16.23 metres (53.2 ft) long and 4.27 metres (14.0 ft) wide.
23. And on 11 June 2010, the An-225 carried the world's longest piece of air cargo.
24. It was two new 42-meter test wind turbine blades, which it flew from Tianjin, China, to Denmark.
25. Takeoff and landing speed depends on the weight of the aircraft and ranges from 240 km/h up to 280 km/h.
26. The aircraft has a crew of six.
27. They are the captain, first officer, navigator, chief flight engineer, flight engineer of onboard equipment and the radio operator.
28. The crew say Kabul is the most difficult place to land due to the highlands and other obstacles.
29. The plane has become a major asset to international relief organizations.
30. Its massive size means it can quickly transport huge quantities of emergency supplies during disaster relief operations.
31. These labels are souvenirs presented by numerous visitors and stuck to an escape hatch.
32.
This post has been corrected to meet attribution standards.