European Retrievable Carrier

The European Retrievable Carrier was ESA’s reusable free-flying platform for microgravity, science, and technology investigations. Designed for deployment and retrieval by the Space Shuttle, it combined autonomous experiment operations, telemetry and command links, onboard data storage, and orbital maneuvering with return of the payloads to Earth. ESOC controlled the spacecraft from Darmstadt. Its design allowed at least five flights, with postflight inspection and refurbishment between missions; only its first flight took place. Returning the spacecraft also allowed engineers to investigate anomalies and inspect hardware that had operated in orbit.