Re:Rare Photos of the Russian "Buran" space program
by cstross on Saturday October 24, 2009 @06:05PM
(#900984)
I've read a pilot's account of flying the 747 carrier with the Shuttle on top. (USAF officer, former SR-71 driver, got to fly the shuttle carrier loaded as a special treat.) His description of the loaded 747/shuttle stack's handling was hair-raising -- it used nearly the entire 12,000 foot runway to get airborn, and once flying it had a tendency to want to topple over sideways whenever he banked (very gently!).
The 747 can carry the shuttle, but it's pretty marginal -- in hot weather, with full fuel tanks, it's a bit of a beast.
The An-225 wasn't developed solely to carry Buran -- it's got a massive load capacity (bigger even than the freighter version of the A-380) and can carry external loads up to 200 tons (compare that to the 186 ton empty weight of a 747-400!). The flying An-225 is in constant demand for special lift missions and Antonov were/are working on finishing the second airframe (while using the first as a development platform for future heavy lift designs).
The 747 can carry the shuttle, but it's pretty marginal -- in hot weather, with full fuel tanks, it's a bit of a beast.
The An-225 wasn't developed solely to carry Buran -- it's got a massive load capacity (bigger even than the freighter version of the A-380) and can carry external loads up to 200 tons (compare that to the 186 ton empty weight of a 747-400!). The flying An-225 is in constant demand for special lift missions and Antonov were/are working on finishing the second airframe (while using the first as a development platform for future heavy lift designs).