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Thursday, January 16, 2014

Babylon 5 Space Station


Here are some more images plus a composite of Revell's 1/26000 scale Babylon 5 space station. 

From Wikipedia "
Babylon 5 is a fictional space station and the primary setting in the television series Babylon 5. Its design is a variation of an O'Neill cylinder.
Babylon 5 was designed as the "last, best hope for peace". It was the last of five stations to be built, with its predecessors either being destroyed by terrorists, or, in the case of Babylon 4, vanishing without a trace. The station is home to 250,000, including about 100,000 humans and 2,000 EarthForce personnel, and includes areas for business, residences and recreation.

The last of the Babylon stations, Babylon 5 was constructed ten years after the Earth-Minbari War. Its purpose was to "prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully". For this reason, it was situated in politically neutral space: in orbit around Epsilon III. It was a free port for a quarter of a million beings, and was co-funded by the Earth Alliance and Minbari Federation after the crippling financial loss of Babylon 4.
Upon its commissioning, Babylon 5 contained three Starfury squadrons. A fourth was added when President Santiago made his visit to the station in 2258. These are launched vertically, making use of the centrifugal effect caused by the revolving of the station. The station also had its own defensive grid system and was mainly capable of taking down enemy fighters and smaller capital ships. When Raiders, who were an organized group of pirates, attacked the station in 2258, these turrets were used to back up the Starfury squadrons.
In 2259 following the arrival of EarthForce marines, the station's defensive grid received an upgrade, giving the station the capability of taking on a capital ship, though the new commander, Captain John Sheridan was reluctant to use it. The strength of the new defensive grid was shown in the final episode of the second season when the captain launched the whole defensive grid onto a Centauri Primus class battlecruiser and destroyed it, after the station suffered damage in the unprovoked attack.
The real test came in 2260 when President Morgan Clark ordered Babylon 5 seized before the station could declare independence. A fleet of EarthForce ships attacked the station and two other EarthForce ships that were present and aiding Babylon 5 at the time, the EAS Alexander and the EAS Churchill. The EAS Agrippa was the victim of the new defensive grid as the station, and with some help from the Alexander, completely destroyed the Agrippa after taking five direct hits from the station.

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