One year ago today, the largest aircraft ever built was destroyed during the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, the Antonov An-225 Mriya is once again taking to the skies — albeit in Microsoft Flight Simulator. What’s more, if you buy the add-on, you could help restore the only real-life Mriya that was ever completed.
The Ukraine-built Mriya was an ultra-heavy lift jet transport aircraft with six engines. It was the heaviest aircraft ever built and it had the largest wingspan of any plane at 290 feet. The Mriya, which had its first flight in 1988, was used to transport things like Soviet space shuttles, tanks, diesel locomotives and dozens of cars at a time.
Stringer . / reuters
A second Mriya was in the works, but it was never finished. There are plans to reconstruct the plane by using parts of the destroyed Mriya and pieces from the unfinished airframe. The project is expected to cost over $500 million.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator version of the Antonov An-225 Mriya is available in six liveries, including an Xbox Aviators Club one. It’s in the in-game marketplace on PC today and will be available for the Xbox Series X/S and cloud versions later this month. The Mriya costs $20, with all proceeds going to the Antonov Corporation’s Mryia reconstruction efforts. Meanwhile, iniBuilds, the team behind the virtual Mriya, has released a manual and other details about the plane on its forums.
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Kris Holt