Archive
World’s Largest Aircraft: Antonov An-225 Mriya
Bigger than a Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, longer and heavier than the Hughes H-4 “Spruce Goose”, The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift cargo aircraft developed by the Antonov Design Bureau in the Ukraine.
Known for its immense carrying capability, the An-225 can carry 550,000 lbs. internally or 440,000 lbs. on the upper fuselage. A behemoth with the sole mission to carry cargo, the An-225 requires six turbofan engines to keep its payload in the air. Read more…
Soviet Automotive Junkyard
It is interesting how much culture can affect the desirability of classic cars. In the United States the transition from the late 40’s to the early 50’s brought us rock and roll, wild styling, bright colors and enthusiastic youth. World War II veterans came home and purchased cars with big fins and “hydramatic” transmissions; it was a time of prosperity.
At the same time in the Soviet Union, the opposite was true: transportation was basic, sparse, and only for those with significant wealth. Is that why classic Russian cars fail to draw the same attention or desire? Read more…
Abandoned coal mining town in Siberia: Kadykchan, Russia
Deep in the Magadan region in remote Siberia, a coal mining town named Kadykchan was built by Gulag prisoners during World War II. At its peak, the town housed nearly 11,000 residents. By the early 1990s, the decreased demand for coal and the fall of the Soviet Union would see the town start to decrease in importance. A mine explosion in 1996 killed six people and prompted ownership to shut down the mines altogether.
Today, there are fewer than 200 people left in this remote town. There are no services, winters are extremely harsh, and the only way into town requires traveling on a ghost highway. Read more…
The Coldest Inhabited Place on Earth: Oymyakon, Russia
Oymyakon, a small village of about 500 people in the Sakha region of Russia, holds the claim to fame as being the coldest continually inhabited place on Earth. Located approximately 20 miles northwest of Tomtor on the Kolyma Highway in Siberia, it is not easily accessible.
Situated in an area known as Stalin’s Death Ring, Oymyakon set the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded by a permanently-inhabited settlement in 1924 when a Russian scientist endured a frigid -96° Fahrenheit (-71 C). Read more…
The Most Contaminated Place on Earth: Chelyabinsk-40
Outside of the Chernobyl incident, we seldom hear about the nuclear laboratories and test facilities of the former U.S.S.R. One particular installation – Chelyabinsk-40 – was the first Soviet plutonium production complex and the site of three separate massive nuclear incidents.
Until recently this area was not included on maps and the Russian government denied its existence. No visitors had been allowed under any circumstances, and all residents worked in the facility (later referred to as Chelyabinsk-65). With the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90′s, Chelyabinsk-40 was finally acknowledged by the government and granted town status.
In 1994, Chelyabinsk-65 was finally given a name: Ozyorsk. Read more…
The Dyatlov Pass Incident
On January 27th 1959, a group of nine skiers set off hiking in the northern Ural Mountains. The group was formed of graduate students from a nearby University for a ski trek across the Sverdlovsk Oblast. The students were all experienced hikers and seasoned skiers, and the route was rated as a “Category III” – the most difficult. The trip began rather uneventful, but by February 2nd they would all be dead with no witnesses or explanation. Read more…
Falling From Airplanes
Imagine being seated in the back of a plane and, while you’re flying at 33,330 feet, the plane blows up in mid-air. After being knocked unconscious, you later wake up to find yourself on the ground and in much pain – but still alive, the only survivor. This is precisely what Vesna Vulović claimed, and for this she holds the Guinness Book World Record for having survived the highest fall without a parachute. Read more…
