Docking Bays

Hey! I'm Lou Welch, one of the Station Security team. Zack told me you would be coming down here. I'll show you around the docking bays. We got so many different types of ship coming to Babylon 5 every day, you wouldn't believe it. We have 24 docking bays altogether, ranging from small platforms to large cradles. I'll show you round the docking platforms where all the shuttles come in. Later, I can take you to the larger docking cradles. But don't even think about going to docking bay 13, which is where Ambassador Kosh keeps his ship. That's strictly off limits.

Transfer Shuttles

The majority of ships docking in Babylon 5 are transfer shuttles. These are mostly simple craft, designed to transfer passengers from the large liners to the station. Over here on this monitor, you can see a couple of Earth Alliance shuttles in transit from the Asimov, one of the big starliners parked outside the station. Oh? You came in on the Asimov? Well, how about that! Apart from the flight crew of 3, shuttles can carry between 8 and 24 passengers, depending on how much space is taken up by cargo.

On this monitor, you can see another transfer shuttle just touching down in the docking bay. This one's from the Centauri Republic; it must belong to some important Centauri household, since purple is their royal colour. It looks pretty luxurious, compared to the Earth Alliance shuttles.

The standard transfer shuttle has a microfusion particle thrust drive, but can't make its own jump point. Not that it needs to, you can just use the jumpgates and navigate through hyperspace from beacon to beacon. Some of these shuttles get carried on the larger liners, but they can also be used for quite extended missions in-system, too.

Atmospheric Shuttles

You know, there are 24 docking bays down at this level. We're actually standing right above where the ships are parked, all round the inner circumference of the Command Sphere. The landing pad elevators take them down there, where they get serviced and refuelled by robots.

Now, on this monitor, you can see a different kind of vehicle. This is an Earth Alliance atmosphere shuttle. It's the kind of craft you need if you're going planetside. This one's just coming up from a reconnaissance of the planet below us, Epsilon 3. It's a science mission, to see whether there are any signs of life. Well, I reckon the planet's dead, myself.

Over on this monitor, here's another shuttle that looks like it's about to go down to Epsilon 3. Hey, I think that's Ambassador Londo Mollari's own personal shuttle. I wonder what he's up to? The Centauri must have heard that we were investigating the planet and now he wants to get in on whatever we've found! Hah! The Centauri are crazy - but you can't help but like 'em.

You can see that an atmospheric shuttle's more streamlined and has aerofoil wings, to provide some lift in the atmosphere. As well as conventional particle thrust engines, it has scramjets - atmosphere engines that can process whatever gas you're flying through. If you look on the upper hull, you can see the scramjet intakes. Size for size, atmospheric shuttles can't carry as much as transfer shuttles. That's because of the heavy fuel payload necessary to reach orbit from the surface of a planet. It's basically costly to lift stuff out of a planet's gravity well. Going down's easy, though. You just use the planet's atmosphere as as brake!

Personal Transports and Yachts

Here's a pretty ship that you'll see from time to time. It's a Minbari Flyer, Ambassador Delenn's personal ship. You see those strange-looking fins at the front and rear? We think that they're something to do with the gravimetric drive system used by the Minbari in all their ships. But we're not allowed to go and look inside! She has diplomatic privileges, like all the ambassadors.

Some say you can't trust the Minbari, but I like Delenn. You know, she even remembered my name? Well, she's certainly mysterious; and I'll bet there's more to her than we know.

Over here, this ship's about to leave Grid Epsilon. She cleared the bay five minutes ago and we still have her on positive track to the jumpgate. It's a private transport, the Skylark according to the manifest here. You gotta be seriously rich, or have the right diplomatic connections, to have your own personal ship. This one looks like it can handle atmospheric flight as well.

If you're really wealthy, like Centauri Nobility, then you can have your own personal yacht. Just coming out through the bay now, that's a Centauri personal liner. That one's registerd to Lord Kiro and Lady Ladira. You can live in style on a ship like that, with flight crew and servants. Ships as small as this can't make their own jump points though. It will be heading out for the jumpgate. You should go up to the Observation Dome and see the gate activated. That's quite a sight. But you'd need to get a military permit first.

Exit to Transport Tube

So would you like to explore the docking bays further? Just follow the B5 station signs.