Trekipedia

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701

Perhaps the most famous spacecraft in the history of space exploration, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 was a Constitution class vessel.^[3] Launched in 2245^[13] from the San Francisco Fleet Yards orbiting Earth,^[1] the Enterprise was first commanded by Captain Robert April,^[4] who was later succeeded by his first officer, Christopher Pike, in 2250.^[9] During Pike’s command, the Enterprise had a crew complement of 203, though it was unclear if this figure included Pike himself.^[1] According to Ensign Tyler, the ship’s power was “enough to blast half a continent.”^[1] Superbly equipped for research in deep space, the Enterprise had 14 science labs.^[2] The ship achieved legendary status during the first five-year mission under its third captain, James T. Kirk, from 2265 to 2270.^[5]

The Enterprise was refitted several times during its lifetime, most notably from 2270 to 2272, when the ship was virtually rebuilt from the inside out.^[5] Though commanded by Captain Will Decker during the refit, Kirk—who had been promoted to admiral in 2270—took temporary command of the vessel during the V’ger incident of 2272; Decker was lost during the mission,^[5] and Kirk took command of the Enterprise for another five-year mission.^{[10, 12]} Eventually, Kirk retired^[8] and the ship became a training vessel at Starfleet Academy under Captain Spock.^[6] In 2285, Kirk had returned to duty as commandant of the academy, and took temporary command of the Enterprise while overseeing a cadet cruise when the ship encountered Khan Noonien Singh in the Mutara Sector. Spock was killed saving the ship.^[6] The ship was destroyed some time later by Admiral Kirk just prior to its anticipated decommissioning in order to prevent the it from falling into Klingon hands during a mission to recover the body of Captain Spock.^[7]

References

• 1. “The Cage.” Star Trek, Episode 0. Television. 1965 (Unaired).
• 2. “Operation: Annihilate!” Star Trek, Episode 29. Television. 13 April 1967.
• 3. “The Trouble With Tribbles.” Star Trek, Episode 42. Television. 29 December 1967.
• 4. “The Counter-Clock Incident.” Star Trek: The Animated Series, Episode 22. Television. 12 October 1974.
• 5. Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Film. 7 December 1979.
• 6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Film. 4 June 1982.
• 7. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Film. 1 June 1984.
• 8. Star Trek: Generations. Film. 18 November 1994.
• 9. “Crisis on Vulcan.” Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Young Adult Novel #1. August 1996.
• 10. “Renewal.” Star Trek: Untold Voyages, Issue #1. Comic Book. March 1998.
• 11. “Q2.” Star Trek: Voyager, Episode 265. Television. 11 April 2001.
• 12. “Ex Machina.” Star Trek. Novel (Unnumbered). January 2005.
• 13. “In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II.” Star Trek: Enterprise, Episode 95. Television. 29 April 2005.