ARV

The Axiom Return Vehicle, or ARV, is an unmanned space shuttle designed and built by the Buy N Large corporation as part of Operation Recolonise. The ship's primary purpose was to deploy EVE probes to the surface of Earth annually to search for plant life, proving that Earth was habitable again.

History.
It is unclear when the shuttle was built, but it was most likely built sometime before 2110 and assigned to the Axiom shortly after. It was then deployed regularly to Earth for nearly 700 years. In 2805, an Eve probe found a living plant in a WALL-E transport truck. The ARV detected this, retrieved the probe and returned to the Axiom. The plant was eventualy placed in the Axiom's holo-detector and the starliner returned to Earth, beginning operation Recolonise and ending the EVE program.

Specifications.
The ARV could hold up to seven EVE probes in a rack near the front of the ship. These were deployed from the ship via a hatch at the bottom. The ship would land at an area, deploy a probe and takeoff again. It would then repeat the process until all probes were deployed. It is unclear whether the ship then returned to the Axiom or instead waited in Earth orbit until the mission was completed. However, due to the short waiting time between Eve finding the okant and the shuttle returning, it is a safe bet that the shuttle was waiting in orbit for the mission to be completed.

After retrieving the probes, the ARV would depart Earth and return to the Axiom, where it would land in a Docking Bay.

Gameplay.
The ARV is the setting for the on-rails-shooter level Stowaway to Space, in which WALL-E is hanging on a maintenance ladder outside the ship and shooting at satellites and space ice with his laser. The ship is also seen in the cutscenes for Shipyard, Surprise Departure and Eve Pursuit. In the case of the latter two levels, the shuttle can also be seen in the background on segments of those levels.