Editing Flight pod

Also known simply as "pods", the '''flight pods''' contain the [[Landing bay|landing bays]] within the top and the [[Hangar Deck|hangar deck]] below, along with the [[Launch tubes (RDM)|launch tubes]] within the bottom half, adjacent to the hangar deck. Normally these two pods are extended so that the landing bays are open to space, but in order to perform an [[FTL]] jump the pods must be retracted on a [[Galactica type battlestar|battlestar class]] such as ''Galactica's''.

The forward end of the landing bay also serves as a launch area for Raptors and shuttles. The landing bay is large enough to accept a variety of other Colonial vessels, at least as large as "heavy" passenger ships such as ''[[Colonial Heavy 798]]''. Docking collars are located throughout the upper sections of the landing bay in order to provide a pressurized connection between a docked vessel and the battlestar.<ref name="docking">''Colonial Heavy 798'' is seen landing within ''Galactica's'' flight pod in the [[Miniseries]], where a docking ring is shown approaching the ship. As it left Caprica, a similar docking ring is shown detaching from ''798'' as the ship lifts off. This has a logical counterpart to the JetWay retractable tunnels at airports on the real-world Earth, and would be reasonable given that civilian passengers would expect to walk to and from the ship without spacesuits or in hazardous conditions.</ref> The flight pods also have docking ports to dock with larger ships or stations.

Compartments within a flight pod can be sealed off [[frame]] by frame and vented to space to kill fires and prevent possible complete decompression and structural buckling. This occurred to the port flight pod after it was struck with a Cylon kiloton nuclear missile and was subjected to internal fires that threatened to ignite the ship fuel lines and destroy the ship. The use of the busy port hangar deck as a morgue would be rather morbid, so Commander Adama orders [[Galen Tyrol]] to set up a temporary morgue be in "hangar bay B" after the loss of 85 crewmembers from the strike ([[Miniseries]]). Since the port hangar deck (bay) is very busy with retrieving Vipers, and we see Captain [[Aaron Kelly|Kelly]] with the bodies in what 
appears otherwise as an empty hangar deck, it is likely the unused hangar deck of the starboard flight pod.

== ''Galactica'' ==

[[Image:Hanger.JPG|right|thumb|200px|''Galactica's'' port flight pod.]]

''[[Galactica]]'', as with other battlestars, has one flight pod on each side of the ship.
The port flight pod was the only flight pod on ''Galactica'' currently in use at the time of the [[Cylon Attack]]. The starboard flight pod's landing bay was converted into a [[Galactica Museum|pressurized museum]] of artifacts of the first [[Cylon War]], including with a gift shop in the former launch bay. Crewman [[Socinus]] complains of the problems in keeping the landing bay's external windows sealed from leaks at the start of the [[Miniseries]].

The starboard landing bay remains closed off from space until a Cylon [[Heavy Raider]] later crashes through one of the windows, depressurizing the landing bay ([[Scattered]]).  After the Battle of New Caprica, the starboard flight pod appears to have been returned to partial working order as Lee Adama announces that his Raptor approaches the starboard landing bay in "[[A Measure of Salvation]]". However, this could be explained by special circumstances, as the boarding team is supposed to undergo quarantine procedures and might thus land in a more isolated place. The second explation appears more likely, because in late season 3 episodes the window covering the rear opening of the pod is still visible.

Since the escape from New Caprica, ''Galactica'''s flight pods have been put to use increasingly in other roles than just housing Vipers and Raptors.  The hangar deck is used as the site of a [[Camp Oil Slick|refugee camp]] ([[Torn]]), as the scene of a sanctioned boxing tournament known as "the dance" ([[Unfinished Business]]), as a temporary shelter for the civilian population of the Fleet while navigating a radiation-dense star cluster ([[The Passage]]) and a full-time [[Joe's bar|bar]] has been set up on an unused stretch of the hangar deck ([[Taking a Break From All Your Worries]]). This most likely all happened in the relatively unused starboard flight pod.

== ''Pegasus'' ==

[[Image:Pegasusflightpod.jpg|thumb|left|''Pegasus's'' drifting flight pod before colliding with a basestar.]]
The [[Mercury class battlestar|Mercury class battlestar]] ''[[Pegasus (RDM)|Pegasus]]'' also has flight pods, but they differ greatly from ''Galactica's'' in that these larger pods are fixed and not retracted before a jump, with each pod transversely split into two landing bays to allow four distinct landing areas for fighters.

The lower landing bay is placed upside down in relation to the upper bay, with ships also landing "upside down" relative to the battlestar main interior. Since ''Galactica'''s landing bays don't seem to use [[Gravity in the Re-imagined Series|artificial gravity]], this could also be the case with ''Pegasus''. The internal arrangement of the hangar decks is unknown, but some mechanism could exist to flip Vipers during transport to the internal hangars.

During the [[Battle of New Caprica]], the abandoned and unmanned ''Pegasus'' collides with and destroys one of the four basestars that attack ''Galactica''. One of its flight pods breaks off the destroyed battlestar and tumbles away to collide with and destroy yet another basestar ([[Exodus, Part II]]).

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== See Also ==

* [[landing bay]]
* [[launch tubes (RDM)|launch tubes]]
* [[hangar deck]]

== References ==
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