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The Antonov An-225 was the heaviest aircraft ever flown

It had six engines and a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes

Built to carry the Soviet space shuttle, the single completed An-225 first flew in 1988 and later earned its living hauling oversized cargo. Its 84-metre wingspan and six engines lifted payloads of 250 tonnes. The aircraft was destroyed on the ground in Ukraine in 2022.

Antonov An-225 side view, 2011
Lance Cpl. Samantha H. Arrington (U.S. armed forces) ยท Public domain ยท source

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Tags: aircraft, cargo, aviation

The Antonov An-225 was the heaviest aircraft ever flown: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
It had six engines and a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
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Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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