ANTONOV AN-225 MRIYA ("COSSACK"):
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spec metric english
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wingspan 88.4 meters 290 feet
wing area 905 sq_meters 9,742 sq_feet
length 84 meters 275 feet 7 inches
height 18.2 meters 59 feet 9 inches

empty weight 175,000 kilograms 385,800 pounds
max takeoff weight 600,000 kilograms 1,322,275 pounds

max speed at altitude 850 KPH 530 MPH / 460 KT
cruising altitude 10,000 meters 33,000 feet
range, max payload 4,500 kilometers 2,795 MI / 2,430 NMI
range, max fuel 15,400 kilometers 9,570 MI / 8,310 NMI
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The An-225 is the world's biggest aircraft by far. Since it is a specialized machine, it is unlikely that there would have been reason to build it in large numbers in the best of circumstances. Given that the introduction of the big cargolifter coincided with the last days of the Soviet Union, it is not surprising that only two were built.

An-124, RA-82045 delivered the first Lockheed-Martin Atlas V booster and its Centaur upper stage to the west coast launch complex. In March, the Atlas team will transport the rocket segments to the newly refurbished Space Launch Complex 3 East for vertical stacking.

The Atlas V vehicle stands over 200 feet tall, an increase of about 50 feet over the Atlas IIAS vehicle that launched successfully three times from SLC-3E. The vehicle also incorporates a stretched Centaur upper stage. In performance, The Atlas V 400 and 500 series of launch vehicles will provide over two times the lift capability of the 100 percent successful Atlas IIAS vehicle.

An-124, RA-82045 flew to Huntsville, Alabama on Friday, Febuary 11 and on to Shannon, Ireland on Saturday, February 12.

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland's NASA offices received a large special delivery on Thursday.

The second-largest plane in the world delivered hardware for the NASA Glenn Research Center.

The equipment is called the Ariane 5 Payload Fairing and could protect the shuttle's payload from heat and pressure it would come into contact with entering space.

Service

AN-124 in Brussels

Germany led the recent effort to lease An-124s for NATO strategic airlift requirements. Two aircraft are leased from SALIS GmbH as a stopgap until the Airbus A400M is available.[4]

Russian cargo company Volga-Dnepr has contracts with Boeing to ship outsize aircraft components to their Everett plant. The An-124 is used for airlifting (in fully assembled form) the massive General Electric GE90 turbofan engines used in the Boeing 777 airliner.

Airbus Transport International has selected another Russian cargo company, Polet Airlines as 'designated carrier' to the company. Polet expects its three An-124-100s will transport astronautic equipment manufactured by EADS, which owns 80 percent of Airbus and full-size components of a model of the Airbus A380 superjumbo.[5] As the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is the only A380 engine that can be transported whole in a Boeing 747F[6], the competing Engine Alliance GP7200 needs a larger aircraft, like the An-124, if it is to be shipped in one piece.

Your 'reality' is a bit confusing - people use the An-124 and An-225 because it is both available, cheaper and quicker than alternatives, not because any alternative doesn't exist.

Canada only had one C-17 at the time of the first article, and it was already deployed on missions - the An-124 was probably available sooner than either a USAF C-17, a USAF C-5 or the Canadian C-17, and that is probably why it was used.

The USAF could have shifted their rocket by C-5, but they do not have the experience doing that - the various operators of the An-124 have shifted rocket parts before, and thus have the experience to carry out the move.

The shuttle part was delivered by whatever means the sender sent it by, hardly the recipients problem - and also it was not a military load, so why would the USAF get involved in moving it?

As for the EU countries leasing the An-124 - have you tried getting short term leases on C-17's or C-5's recently? Boeing won't do it for terms of only 3 or 4 years. the RAF got a lot of resistance for leasing for 8 years. Again, the An-124 is available and ready.

The reason for *all* of the above is that the An-124 is privately operated, its not a military aircraft any more unlike both the C-17 and C-5 - that is why you see the above happening. The An-124 is available, its relatively cheap and the leasing companies have lots of experience with handling large, bulky loads.

Here's something else to add to your list as well - Boeing has its GE engines delivered by An-124.