The Rise, Fall and Possible Return of the Antonov An-225

February 27th, 2022. Russian helicopters swarm Hostomel Airport, just outside Kyiv, and what follows is one of the fiercest battles fought in the opening days of the Ukrainian invasion. But inside one of the hangars sat an aircraft that could never be replaced. The Antonov An-225 Mriya. The largest and heaviest aircraft ever to fly, and the only one of its kind on Earth. And by the time the fighting stopped, the Antonov An-225 Mriya was gone. NATO had reportedly warned Antonov, again and again, to move its fleet to Leipzig. And yet the Mriya was left behind. So why didn't Antonov just fly the aircraft to safety? While the answer to this question is shocking, it isn't even the strangest part of this story, because in another hangar outside Kyiv sits a second Mriya, almost seventy percent complete and untouched since 1991, waiting for someone to complete it. And yet, thirty-four years later nobody has. So what really happened at Hostomel Airfield that day? And why is a plane that's already two-thirds built still impossible to rebuild? This is the story of the rise and fall of the Mriya, and the half-billion-dollar question of whether it can ever fly again.