Check out this monster—the VM-T Atlant in action at the 1989 Tushino parade, hauling a mock-up of the Energia hydrogen tank, a striking symbol of late–Cold War Soviet ambition.

During USSR Air Force Day on 20 August, the event featured legendary debuts and displays including the Il-96 prototype, Tu-160, Tu-204, Pugachev’s iconic Su-27 aerobatics, and Aubakirov’s MiG-29, but the VM-T (also known as 3M-T) stood apart as a flying testament to the Buran program.

Modified from the Myasishchev 3M strategic bomber under a 1976 government resolution, the VM-T was purpose-built to transport oversized spacecraft and rocket components for the Energia–Buran program, with only three aircraft ever constructed.

Today, the surviving airframes remain at Dyagilevo airfield and at Zhukovsky with the Myasishchev Design Bureau, often appearing at MAKS, pure Soviet engineering magic that underscores just how bold and ambitious space dreams were in that era.

@WheelsOfDefenseGlobal