Flight Deck

The Flight Deck was the central port complex of the USG Ishimura, located in the middle of the ship. Through its main hangars, shuttles entered and left the planet cracker, and the deck also served as the operations area for the vessel's tram system. It was here that the USG Kellion crashed into the Main Hangar, beginning Isaac Clarke's ordeal aboard the doomed ship. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))

Purpose and layout#

The Flight Deck served as the principal port of the Ishimura, handling every shuttle and craft that came to or left the ship while also functioning as the hub of the tram system. The fullest picture of its layout comes from the 2023 remake, where its centerpiece was the Main Hangar, a large shuttle bay with two long catwalks and four docking stations; just outside the main door stood a cargo lift with a service entrance to the Engineering Deck. Arriving crew and visitors passed through a Security Check-In, where identities were scanned and RIGs synchronized with the Ishimura's systems, before reaching the Flight Lounge, a waiting area for those boarding shuttles or being sent on to their assignments. (Dead Space (2023))

Above the lounge sat the Flight Control Room and the Flight Control Main Tower, where arrivals and departures were monitored and where officers gave landing instructions and could recall departed shuttles. The Flight Deck Tram Station, a glass-enclosed waiting space with a store and refreshment machine, lay before the Tram Control Room and connected to the wider tram network as well as the Cargo Bay, with a service entrance leading to the Medical Deck. (Dead Space (2023))

The crash of the Kellion#

Isaac Clarke's time aboard the Ishimura began on the Flight Deck when the USG Kellion, sent to investigate the ship's communications blackout, crashed into the Main Hangar. The wreck left Isaac and the surviving members of his team stranded at the heart of a vessel already overrun. In a small service workshop below the Flight Lounge, Isaac found the plasma laser that he repurposed as his Plasma Cutter, the mining tool that became his chief means of survival. (Dead Space; Dead Space (2023))

Tram operations and the Cargo Bay#

In the remake's layout, much of the Ishimura's tram infrastructure was housed on the Flight Deck. A Cargo and Baggage Hall carried passengers' belongings on conveyor belts toward the Cargo Bay and the Crew Deck. The Tram Control Room held the computer that governed the tram system and could summon a tram to the Flight Deck station, though it required a data board to function. A three-story Maintenance Bay hoisted trams by crane for servicing, while the Tram Repair Room allowed trams to be pulled from the tunnel for repair and connected by a service entrance to the Hydroponics Deck. The Cargo Bay itself, near the Tram Repair Room and the tram station, stored the ship's cargo and processed minerals; it was sealed off after Marker 3A was placed there for transport on the order of Captain Benjamin Mathius. (Dead Space (2023))