Can the world's largest plane ever fly again?

The images of the wrecked Antonov AN-225 are now an indelible memory for aviation enthusiasts worldwide. Built in the 1980s to ferry the Soviet space shuttle, the plane got a second life after the Cold War as the world's largest cargo transporter, achieving records of all kinds, before being destroyed at the end of February at its home base, Hostomel airfield near Kyiv. "The dream will never die," tweeted the Antonov company, in reference to the plane's nickname "Mriya," meaning dream in Ukrainian. Solidarity poured in from every corner of the world. But can the AN-225 ever fly again? Answering that question firstly requires an assessment of the damage sustained by the aircraft. CNN's Vasco Cotovio has seen the wreckage up close, when he visited Hostomel airfield in early April, along with other CNN journalists and the Ukrainian National Police. "Hostomel was the scene of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces since very early in the war," he says. "Moscow's forces tried to seize the airfield to use it as a forward operating position to which they could fly in additional land units. To do that, they mounted an air assault with attack helicopters. They seemed to have had some initial success, but the Ukrainian response was very quick, hitting the airfield fast and strong -- to prevent any sort of landing," he says. The condition of the plane left no doubts regarding the possibility of a repair. "The nose of the plane was completely destroyed, seemingly the victim of a direct artillery hit," Cotovio says. "In addition to that, there was extensive damage to the wings and some of the engines. The tail end section was spared from any large impacts and has a few holes caused by either shrapnel or bullets. Had it not been for the direct hit on the nose, the AN-225 might have been repairable," he says, adding that the area surrounding the plane was littered with spent ammunition, obliterated Russian tanks and trucks and destroyed armored vehicles.<br/>