NASA recovery ship
Liberty Star with SRB after STS-87
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Class overview | |
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Builders | Atlantic Marine Shipyard, Fort George Island nr. Jacksonville, Florida |
Operators | United Space Alliance |
Built | 1980–1981 |
In commission | 1981–present |
Planned | 2 |
Active | 2 |
General characteristics | |
Type | SRB recovery ship |
Length | 176 ft (54 m) |
Beam | 37 ft (11 m) |
Draft | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)[1] |
Range | 6,000 mi (9,700 km)[1] |
Boats & landing craft carried | Two small boats |
Capacity | 1 rocket booster |
Complement |
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Notes | Towing capacity: 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg) |
The NASA recovery ships are two ships, the MV Liberty Star and the MV Freedom Star, that were tasked with retrieving spent Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) following the launch of Space Shuttle missions. Although owned by NASA, the ships were operated by Space Flight Operations contractor United Space Alliance.[3] Following the end of the Space Shuttle program, and therefore booster recovery, NASA transferred both vessels to the Department of Transportation.
Design and construction
Both ships were built at
All gear on deck, including the 7,500-pound (3,400 kg) deck crane used to lift the booster
Communications equipment includes a Kongsberg dynamic position system and joy stick control, X-band and S-band radars for tracking ship traffic and the falling SRBs, global positioning system, handheld VHF radios and GPS units, digital video and recording systems, voice and data satellite communication capability, VHF automatic direction finding, high-frequency single-side band radios, electronic chart plotters, night vision and Sea Area-3 Global Maritime Distress Safety System consoles.[1] To satisfy NASA's need for more observational data during shuttle launches, a Weibel Scientific Continuous Pulse Doppler X-band radar was mounted on MV Liberty Star to provide velocity and motion information about the shuttle and any debris during launch.[4]
Activities
Aside from their usual missions of retrieving the Space Shuttle SRBs, the Liberty Star and Freedom Star have occasionally been used for other purposes. Starting in 1998, the ships began making use of their downtime between Shuttle launches by towing the
To withstand the towing burden, Liberty Star and Freedom Star underwent deck-strengthening enhancements. The
The ships have also occasionally been used to support scientific research operations including research for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and several universities. The ships are normally docked alongside each other next to the Solid Rocket Booster processing facility at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
External videos | |
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HD video of SRB recovery operations of both ships after the launch of STS-133 on YouTube |