Designed and built by the Ilyushin Aviation Complex, the Il-76 is a medium-range military transport aircraft, which has been produced in a number of versions and upgrades. The military version of the Il-76 is also known by the NATO codename 'Candid,' and the aircraft is capable of delivering paratroopers, carrying ground forces, combat material, including tanks and infantry vehicles, and airlifting cargo for armed forces or disaster relief operations. The version used for zero-G parabolic flights is the Il-76 MDK airborne laboratory. The first Il-76 prototype made its first flight on March 25, 1971, and series production began in 1975. Around 1,000 aircraft have been built so far. The plane used for parabolic zero-g simulation flights is stationed at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. For many years it has been used to prepare Cosmonauts for the weightless environment of space. Nowhere else in the world are these flights being made available to the general public. In the United States, NASA operates a similar aircraft, a modified Boeing KC-135, but FAA regulations do not allow the commercial use of parabolic flights.

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