<div class="floatleft">(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/80/b0/10/80b010044f74758ad7cc71790d5c6f56.jpg)</div>Earth Spacedock or Starbase 1 was a Federation space station facility in Earth orbit, built sometime prior to the year 2285. The station was built with a vast interior, in which numerous starships could be berthed for service and repairs, and was part of the Sol system's Starbase 1 complex of facilities.  Earth Spacedock, referred to simply as "Spacedock" was the largest Starfleet spacedock structure in near-Earth orbit. Other space-built structures might have been larger, but none was ever built as close to the planetary surface. It was originally conceived as a military base for ship repairs and refits. Spacedock orbited Earth just within the Van Allen radiation belts. The close proximity to the denser layers of Earth's atmosphere would normally cause the station's orbit to decay so it was fitted with massive impulse engines that maintained its orbit.<br/><br/>Designed as permanent base for the many ships traveling the Sol System. It could easily provide refit and repair facilities for up to 8 cruiser-sized starships and up to 24 of Starfleet's lesser-sized ships.  Although Spacedock was a vital link in Starfleet Operations and was administered by Starfleet Command,[citation needed] it was not an actual starbase. Being intended primarily as a military installation, it was originally designed to be equipped with 40 massive phaser banks, but the United Earth government objected to the presence of more weapons in Earth's orbit.  A compromise was eventually reached and it was constructed weaponless, relying on high-powered deflectors. Nonetheless it retained its 40 weapon mounts, in case of interstellar war emergency, Starfleet Command can mount phaser weapons and have them operational within a single week.<br/><br/>Another major purpose of Earth Spacedock was its ability to scan all of Solar space. The docking port became one of the central installations for weather-watch, debris-scan, radiation-flux analysis, and starship traffic control, for Sector 001. This was made possible by the largest single sensor array and subspace communications equipment known at that time. Antennae were placed at the top of Spacedock, which were so sensitive they could detect a meter-sized object in the Solar System's cometary halo, at least half a light year away.  Currently only seven of the interior berths were in use, and stationed at Dock-5 was the latest edition to Starfleet, the<em>U.S.S. Redemption</em>, waiting for its crew, and its story into history to begin.