
LayoutĮach of the Von Braun's six main decks is assigned a designation based on its primary functions. To perform its assigned escort, the Rickenbacker was physically moored to the Von Braun with an intricate series of docking mechanisms, allowing the sub-light-speed Rickenbacker to "piggy-back" into hyperspace.Ĭontact with the Von Braun and her escort was lost during her first deep-space mission in 2114 while charting unexplored space near the Tau Ceti star system, leaving the starship's ultimate fate a mystery. As such, Korenchkin was forced to cooperate with William Bedford Diego, the highly decorated captain of the military ship UNN Rickenbacker and son of deceased TriOptimum vice-president Edward Diego, in their joint interstellar venture. That incident also gave rise to the United National Nominate, a coalition of Earth's governments with oversight of large corporations like TriOptimum. An artificial intelligence construct designated XERXES monitored this complex network of interlinked systems and administered the ship's basic functions such as communications, navigation and life support.įor her maiden exploratory voyage, the Von Braun was captained by TriOptimum CEO Anatoly Korenchkin, an ambitious executive who helped guide his company's gradual return to profitability following the infamous Citadel Station debacle. The ship was fitted with approximately 1.8 billion flight, scientific and security systems, nearly all of which were developed and manufactured by TriOptimum and its subsidiary holdings. Marie Delacroix while working under grant from TriOptimum.


Construction began in 2111 shortly after the first successful prototype FTL drive was developed by Dr. Named after the famous 20th-century rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, she was built by the TriOptimum Corporation as a commercial research vessel and is humanity's first ship capable of faster-than-light speeds, reducing travel times between star systems to a matter of weeks instead of years.

The Von Braun is a starship that serves as the main setting for System Shock 2.
