One of six Moonraker shuttles created by Drax, Moonraker 1 is the first to be launched from Drax's control centre in the Amazon to transport his selection of perfect human specimens to his Space Station, from where he plans to wipe out the human race on earth and re-create humanity with his master race.

The Moonraker shuttles were based on the NASA space shuttle, and the film's release was originally planned to coincide with the first ever launch of the space shuttle. As the NASA space shuttle program had not yet been launched when Moonraker was made, Derek Meddings and his team had to devise the launch footage with no frame of reference.