The Galactic Republic utilized a captured Sheathipede-class Type B shuttle, designated Shuttle 81572, during 20 BBY. Its purpose was to infiltrate the Citadel prison, which was under Separatist control, located on Lola Sayu. An astromech droid, R2-D2, commanded a squad of reprogrammed battle droids who piloted the craft. To bypass lifeform scanners, the shuttle carried a Republic strike team frozen in carbonite, and gained access to the planet by falsely claiming to transport supplies and frozen rations. After landing in a concealed canyon, R2-D2 and his droid crew remained with the shuttle, awaiting the strike team's return after they unfroze and proceeded to the prison to liberate Jedi Master Even Piell and his fellow officers.
Later, R2-D2 and his droid team transported the shuttle to the Citadel's landing pad in an attempt to extract the team. However, during a battle on the landing pad, a commando droid operating a turbolaser turret destroyed the shuttle, seemingly killing ARC trooper Echo, who was attempting to reclaim the vessel. Consequently, the remaining Republic soldiers and Jedi were compelled to request assistance, prompting Jedi General Plo Koon to deploy a substantial fleet for their evacuation from the planet. Unbeknownst to the Republic forces, Echo had survived the shuttle's destruction. Suffering severe injuries, he was recovered by the Separatists and ultimately fell into the hands of the Techno Union, who transformed him into a cyborg to extract intelligence from his brain. Confined to a stasis chamber, Echo was forced to relive the shuttle explosion at the Citadel repeatedly, until he was rescued by General Anakin Skywalker, Clone Captain Rex, and Clone Force 99.
Shuttle 81572 was a Sheathipede-class Type B shuttle. As with all shuttles of its design, it was produced by the Haor Chall Engineering Corporation, and included a hyperdrive system, along with three laser cannons for armament. It was originally designed to transport cargo.
Initially, the Confederacy of Independent Systems possessed and operated Shuttle 81572. However, during the Clone Wars conflict between the Confederacy and the Galactic Republic, Republic forces seized the shuttle. In 20 BBY, the shuttle was transported to the Jedi Temple hangars on Coruscant, as it was slated to be used for an infiltration mission targeting the Separatist-held Citadel prison on Lola Sayu. The objective of the mission was to extract the captured Jedi Master Even Piell, who had acquired the coordinates for the clandestine Nexus Route hyperlane. Command of the shuttle was assigned to astromech droid R2-D2, who oversaw a squadron of reprogrammed battle droids responsible for piloting the starship. To successfully infiltrate the Citadel, Jedi General Anakin Skywalker arranged for the team, including himself, to undergo carbon-freezing to circumvent the prison's lifeform detection systems. Once the team was encased in carbonite, they were loaded onto the shuttle, and the droid crew piloted it away from Coruscant. Jedi Master Plo Koon was present to witness the ship's departure.
Upon the shuttle's arrival at Lola Sayu, T-series tactical droid K2-B4 from Citadel command hailed the vessel, demanding identification of the ship and its cargo. R2-D2 directed his droid crew to respond, claiming they were transporting supplies and frozen rations. They were instructed to maintain their course while undergoing scans for lifeforms. Successfully passing the scan, Shuttle 81572 received authorization to land at the Citadel. R2-D2 and the battle droids guided the shuttle to the planet's surface, subsequently deviating from their designated path and landing in a secluded canyon. There, they released the members of the strike team from their carbonite encasement and awaited Skywalker's signal to evacuate the team.
Following the strike team's successful rescue of General Piell and his officers, they divided into two groups to evade the prison's security forces. Skywalker contacted R2-D2, instructing the droid to bring the shuttle to the Citadel's landing platform to retrieve Obi-Wan Kenobi's group, before proceeding to the pipeline exit to pick up Skywalker's team. However, the plan was compromised when Kenobi's group was captured by warden Osi Sobeck and his BX-series droid commandos. Sobeck also noted the shuttle's absence, finding it suspicious. Upon the shuttle's arrival at the prison, R2-D2's battle droids improvised a ruse, feigning that the astromech was their prisoner to gain entry into the Citadel, a situation R2 later expressed displeasure about, as it left the shuttle unguarded. Nevertheless, the droid team managed to rescue Kenobi and his team. They attempted to reclaim the shuttle, with the reprogrammed droids claiming the "prisoners" were being transferred to a fictitious Point Tarron outpost, which resulted in a firefight.
Skywalker's group, ambushed at the pipeline exit, were forced to retreat and headed towards the Citadel landing platform, where they joined the ongoing firefight. During the skirmish, a battle droid operating one of the prison's turbolaser turrets was destroyed, and a commando droid, dismounted from a STAP by the Jedi, took control of the platform. Skywalker and Piell, riding a hijacked STAP, attempted to eliminate the droid, but were shot down. ARC trooper Echo, realizing the shuttle was in danger of being destroyed by the commando droid, raced towards the ship, grabbing a discarded energy shield and reaching the boarding ramp. However, moments later, the shuttle was destroyed by turret fire, much to the dismay of Echo's comrade Fives. With Echo presumed killed in the explosion, the team was forced to abandon the landing platform.
Subsequently, the Jedi and Republic dispatched an entire fleet of four Venator-class Star Destroyers, under the command of Master Plo, along with fellow Jedi Generals Adi Gallia, Saesee Tiin, and Kit Fisto, as well as Admiral Barton Coburn, to rescue the strike team. The rescue operation was successful, although Piell perished during the fighting, passing his half of the Nexus Route coordinates to Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who was not originally intended to be part of the strike team. However, the Republic remained unaware that Echo had not actually died in the shuttle's destruction. Severely wounded, he was recovered by the Separatists and sold to the Techno Union, who transformed him into a cyborg to extract information from his brain. Among the extracted information was a battle strategy algorithm developed by Clone Captain Rex, and its use against the Republic during the Battle of Anaxes led Rex to suspect that Echo was still alive. Confined to a stasis chamber in Purkoll on Skako Minor, Echo was forced to relive the shuttle explosion repeatedly until he was rescued by Skywalker, Rex and Clone Force 99.
During the Citadel mission, Shuttle 81572 was under the command of Anakin Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2. A trio of reprogrammed battle droids under his command, led by OOM-10, piloted the ship to Lola Sayu to infiltrate Separatist territory.
Shuttle 81572 made its debut in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars third season episode "The Citadel."