Appropriate word for "refloating" a space vessel? [closed]

This very well may just be outside our lexicon at the moment, due to the fact that space travel is extremely limited, but I am looking for the proper terminology to refer to a space vessel that had been rendered a wreck or a derelict, and was repaired and refitted into a workable vessel. In naval terms, a sunk vessel would be refloated, but that term is awkward to use in space.

Something like reatmosphered fits the context, but it is awkward and not in the lexicon (though its form makes its intent clear, and could be readily used).

Any ideas?


Consider recommission, which is defined (somewhat obviously) by oxforddictionaries.com as "commission again".

This sense of "commission", in turn, is defined by oxforddictionaries.com as

Bring (something newly produced) into working condition


"Refloating" might actually work. Space is an ocean, after all (at least according to tvtropes) - naval expressions and similes are rather accepted to use, as far as I've observed, at least in the scifi community. Besides, a spaceship could be considered to be floating in space. As a non-native speaker, I don't know how that term relates to willful motion, however.


I would be inclined to suggest relaunched. The first time a spacecraft is sent into space, it is launched; if it's recovered and sent into space again, it's launched again - that is, relaunched. The term is also used in a maritime context, for ships that have been repaired/refit in drydock, but which were never officially declared unusable/decommissioned.


I'd say "repressurized" if we're talking about a ship that was repaired in space. You would only repressurize the crew compartments if all holes/leaks had been repaired and you were ready for a crew to come aboard, so that act would mark a pivotal moment in the recovery process. If we're talking about a shipwreck or derelict on the surface of a planet, "relaunched" or "re-orbited" make sense to me.