One of the biggest uses of the space station is to recover satellites by astronauts, repair them and relaunch them. The U.S. space shuttle has performed this task four times. The space station has a long life. It not only moves the work of launching satellites from the ground to space, but also can recycle expensive expired or faulty satellites, which will greatly extend the life of satellites. NASA is developing a maneuverable aircraft that can fly far away from the station to recover geostationary satellites that have fallen into orbit, refuel the satellites, and then launch manned spacecraft from the space station to the moon and Mars. The USS Liberty space station was designed with its aircraft space launch station in mind.
Space maintenance is a special service activity that emerged with the maturity of manned space technology. Its application range is very wide, such as recycling, repairing, replacing parts, and refueling various spacecraft and aerospace facilities. Space maintenance requires high technical guarantees. First of all, there must be manned spacecraft that stay in space for a long time. For now, there are only space shuttles and space stations. Secondly, the spacecraft to be repaired must be suitable for space maintenance. At present, Such a spacecraft adopts an advanced cabin design, that is, the spacecraft is divided into several standard cabins according to functions to facilitate disassembly. In addition, it requires close cooperation with ground control. It can be seen that the implementation of space maintenance is not only a complex systematic project, but also a concentrated expression of the high-tech level of space.