Launch bay

Landing Bay Alpha.

This article discusses the fighter launch platforms of the Original Series battlestars. For information about similar facilities on Re-imagined Series battlestars, see launch tubes (RDM), landing bay and flight pod.

The launch bay is a place from where a Colonial battlestar launches its Vipers and other spacecraft.

Laser turrets.

Battlestars have two launch bays enclosed within two quasi-cylindrical nacelles located port and starboard of the ship. One of the bays is known as "launch bay alpha" ^{(TOS: "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I")}. The launch bays are directly adjacent to 16 launch tubes each, which are slanted towards the battlestar's aft. Designed solely for Viper craft, each of the sixteen launch tubes has a track in the launch bay where the Viper sits. An elevator provides access to the launch bay ("Saga of a Star World", "Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I"). In addition, a rapid transport trolley permits fast transportation from the pilots' quarters to the launch tubes when the ship goes on red alert ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.

Related Images

• 
  View of the rear area of a launch bay ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.
• 
  Maintenance crew complete their in the launch bay before Vipers launch ^{(TOS: "Saga of a Star World")}.
• 
  Final Approach
• 
  Silent Service

Notes

• Presumably, the second launch bay is called "launch bay beta", though there is no dialogue that supports this.
• According to Encyclopedia Galactica, a non-canonical piece of merchandise published in 1979:

Along with the bachelor officer's quarters, the launch bay (incorrectly referred to as the "ready-room") is "bathed in red light so that the pilot's eyes will be ready for the darkness of space" during a red alert.

• This area is roughly equivalent to the hangar deck on Re-Imagined Series battlestars.

External links

• Official Universal blueprints of the launch bay and corresponding launch tube, complete with legend. (web.archive.org backup link)