A month ago, An-124-100 Ruslan cargo aircraft was used to transport rocket payload fairing halves.
Just three minutes into the launch, the side boosters successfully detached from the rocket.
State-owned Antonov, Ukraine's only aircraft manufacturer, has applied to U.S. Department of Transportation for an emergency exemption to operate a single one-way all-cargo charter flight by An-124-100 Ruslan transporting outsized rocket hardware manufactured by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX).
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket recovered at sea from its maiden flight last year blasted off again from Florida on Thursday in the first successful launch of a recycled orbital-class booster, then capped the feat with another return landing on an ocean platform, according to Reuters.