The design was conceived in 1978 when Myasishchev was asked to solve the problem of transporting rockets and other large space vehicles to the
Baikonur Cosmodrome. Engineers used an old 3M (a modified M-4 bomber) and replaced the
empennage with
dihedral horizontal stabilizers having large, rectangular end-plate
tailfins to accommodate payloads measuring as large as twice the diameter of the aircraft's
fuselage. A large, aerodynamically optimized cargo container, placed on top of the aircraft, would contain the freight. In addition, a new control system was added to the plane to compensate for the added weight. The
Atlant first flew in 1981 and made its first flight with cargo in January 1982. Its main task was to ferry
Energia rocket boosters from their development plant to the Baikonur Cosmodrome. On several occasions, the then-incomplete Soviet space shuttle
Buran was piggybacked to the Cosmodrome as well. Two
Atlants were built. They were replaced in 1989 by
Antonov's
An-225 Mriya. One
Atlant (RF-01502) is kept at the
Zhukovsky International Airport in
Russia owned by
TsAGI and
Gromov Flight Research Institute, the other one (RA-01402) at
Dyagilevo (air base) in
Ryazan. ==Cargo configurations==