NASA recovery ship

Liberty Star with SRB after STS-87
Class overview
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	2 × diesel engines, 2,900 hp (2,163 kW) 2 × auxiliary engines[1]
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)[2]
Range	6,000 miles (9,700 km)[2]
Boats & landing craft carried	Two small boats
Capacity	1 rocket booster
Complement	Up to 24 Normally 10 crew + 9 SRB retrieval team, retrieval supervisor and observers
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.