Giant Antonov AN-124 mystery cargo revealed? Rocket Lab believed to be customer

A big mystery might have been solved.

And it has a rocket-sized answer.

A few days after the colossal Antonov AN-124 cargo aircraft left Auckland, an online sleuth in America has uncovered what may have been its cargo.

“It all started this morning at the Nasa Wallops Flight Facility when the Antonov AN-124 came in from the south, touching down at around 10.10am,” Eastern Shore Spaceflight said on social media today.

“And let me tell you, no picture I have seen does justice to just how massive that aircraft is in person. It truly has to be seen to be believed.”

The Nasa facility in Virginia is Rocket Lab’s US Neutron launch site.

The Eastern Shore Spaceflight page said the Antonov taxied to the end of the runway and was unloaded with impressive speed.

“By the time we packed up our gear and headed down the road for lunch, it was already back in the air. Total time on the ground: Roughly two and a half hours. Rocket Lab does not mess around.”

The page writer said that soon after lunch, it was discovered that Rocket Lab was loading the payload attach fitting or payload adapter into a grey building at the Rocket Lab Neutron complex.

If true, they would be referring to a fitting which connected a spacecraft or satellite to the rocket.

“As for the other containers that were offloaded from the AN-124, we never did find out where those went. That remains a mystery for now.”

The page author described themselves as a “space nerd and IT engineer”.

The Antonov AN-124 takes off from Auckland. Photo / Anna Heath

Rocket Lab has been approached for comment.

At Rocket Freight Ltd in New Zealand, the person who answered said the manager was not available to speak.

The Ukrainian Antonov Airlines AN-124 arrived on Monday for what Auckland Airport said was “a private, specialist freight movement”.

The world’s biggest cargo fixed-wing aircraft, it has a wingspan of 73.3m and a height of 21m.

Its departure less than 24 hours later attracted interest and onlookers at Auckland.

Antonov aircraft have previously transported objects including satellites, yachts, helicopters and diesel generators.

Kiwi-American company Rocket Lab described the Neutron as 43m high and capable of handling a 13-tonne payload.

At lift-off, its mass is 480 tonnes.

Rocket Lab’s quarterly result last week indicated the company had forward bookings for the Neutron, which was part-fabricated at an ex-SailGP plant at Warkworth.

John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.

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