The title for world's largest aircraft today belongs to the massive Antonov An-225 Mriya (Dream). Designed as an enlarged version of the An-124, this six-engined behemoth was intended as part of the Soviet space program specifically built to carry the now-cancelled Buran space shuttle. While retaining many of the features of its predecessor, the An-225 can be easily distinguished by a redesigned tail with twin vertical tailfins, an incredible 32-wheel landing gear system, as well as the removal of the rear cargo door. Despite not being designed as a military transport, it has enormous potential because of the unprecedented cargo it can take and has been extensively leased to foreign operators including the US government for use in the Middle East. Overall it represents the pinnacle of Soviet-era transport design and such is its demand that a second unit is scheduled to be built by 2008 at the latest.

First flight of the An-225 'Cossack' was undertaken on 21 December 1988. During that flight it broke 106 world records for payload and size and was set to be the carrier for the Buran space shuttle and the Energia's booster rockets. Only one unit was built, it was taken into storage after the collapse of the USSR but has now been extensively reworked as a special cargo transport with another unit in the works.