Atmospheric shuttle

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide

For the Original Series counterpart, see Colonial Shuttle (TOS).

Atmospheric shuttle
Race	Colonial
Type	Military/Civilian
FTL	Yes, on at least one shuttle model
Propulsion
Crew	Unknown
Capacity
CO	{{{co}}}
XO	{{{xo}}}
Role	Short range FTL passenger transport between ships/planet surface
Weapons	{{{weapons}}}
Armaments	{{{arm}}}
Status	{{{status}}}
Other Images	More images...
Dimensions
Length	{{{length}}}
Width	{{{width}}}
Height	{{{height}}}
Weight	{{{weight}}}
Wingspan	{{{wingspan}}}
Other	{{{otherdi}}}

Atmospheric shuttles^[1] are vessels whose primary role is ferrying passengers to and from the different vessels within the Fleet or to a planet's surface.

Atmospheric shuttles appear on both military and civilian vessels. A shuttle is seen in Galactica's landing bay (Miniseries) and on the hangar deck of Cloud Nine (Resistance).

An atmospheric shuttle ferries a group around Laura Roslin seeking the whereabouts of Earth to the Galleon Meadow on Kobol (Home, Part I), and docks to Galactica in "Act of Contrition". A shuttle is also seen at rest on the surface of New Caprica during its colonization, and during food retrieval efforts on the algae planet (The Eye of Jupiter).

When Kendra Shaw waits at the Caprica Transfer Station for her lift to the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards, she sees a shuttle taking off outside the tent (Razor).

Three distinct shuttle models have been identified. For classification purposes only, as their true specifications are unknown, they are identified on this page as follows: "Heavy" Shuttle, "General Purpose" Shuttle, and Cylon War-era Shuttle.

Contents 1 "Heavy" Shuttle 2 "General Purpose" Shuttle 3 Cylon War-era Shuttle 4 References 5 External links

"Heavy" Shuttle

First seen in the opening scene of the Miniseries, it appears to be a clear homage to the original shuttle seen in TOS. There is little to use to gauge the true size of the craft, but it appears to be larger with it's bulk more fully filled out down the length of the vessel.

Starboard rear view

Port rear view

Detailed exterior shot

This model is definitely FTL capable per the exchange between Commander William Adama and Lt. Felix Gaeta in the Miniseries: "Courier officer's overdue coming back from Armistice Station. They've asked for a full status report on all FTL-capable ships just in case they need somebody to jump out there today....". Clearly a FTL capable vessel was required to reach the Armistice Station.

"General Purpose" Shuttle

This model appears to be the most commonly used, especially in civilian service. But it is also used by the military as well. However it is never clear if this model has FTL capability.

Shuttle shot as seen in Razor

Tail assembly view from Razor

Shot of shuttle in route to the Botanical Cruiser in the Miniseries

Cylon War-era Shuttle

This model, as best can be determined by the one low resolution shot of it from the Miniseries and Razor Flashbacks, is TOS version of the shuttle. Again, it is not known if this model is FTL capable either.

Gauging by the Mk II Vipers near the shuttle in the image, one can determine a very rough approximation of the shuttle being the equivalent of 2-3 Vipers in length.

Shuttle seen in the Galactica museum in the Miniseries and Razor Flashbacks

References

External links

• Galactica.TV article on the design and creation of the Shuttle Mk II
  
• ModelerMagic.com article on the design and creation of the Shuttle Mk II