FSD: Enterprise - NCC-1701 Constitution-class

The USS Enterprise NCC-1701 was a Constitution-class starship that was in service between 2245 and 2285. It was designed for deep space exploration and had an extremely distinguished career under five captains - Robert April, Christopher Pike, James T. Kirk, Willard Decker and Spock.

Captain Christopher Pike took command of the Enterprise in 2251. Under Pike's command, the Enterprise was known as a Starship-class spaceship, but by the time Kirk took command in 2263, the classification had changed and the Enterprise had become one of 12 Starfleet vessels known as the Constitution-class starships. In 2256, after its first five-year mission under the command of Captain Pike the Enterprise went into spacedock and began a year of refit work. After Captain Pike's second five-year mission ended in 2261 the Enterprise returned to spacedock for a major refit lasting two years. It is known that during this refit the Enterprise crew compacity was boosted from 203 to 430 officers and crew. Later in 2263, Captain Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain and relinquished command of the Enterprise to Captain James T. Kirk.

Captain James Tiberius Kirk took command of the Enterprise is 2264 embarking on the ship's third and historic journey of exploration "to boldy go where no man has gone before." During Captain Kirk's five-year mission he and the Enterprise became a legend in Starfleet for his first contact with several alien races, battles and dealings in hostile situations including the Klingons, Romulans, and alien races against the Federation. In 2269, after Captain Kirk's five-year mission he was promoted to Admiral and Chief of Starfleet Operations. The Enterprise returned to the San Francisco orbital drydock and began a major refit process. Commander Willard Decker was promoted to captain of the Enterprise by Admiral Kirk's recommendation.

The Enterprise's mission objectives included exploring unknown space, making first contact with alien races, supplying Federation colonies, delivering medical supplies, transporting diplomats, and defending Federation space. Because a major part of its mission involved scientific research, the Enterprise had a total of 14 science labs. It was equipped with advanced medical facilities which included a full surgery and a medical research lab. The crew consisted of a number of mission specialist, including botantists, historians, psychologists and tactical experts. The ship's computers, which employed duotronic circuitry, were extremely powerful, and had access to a vast database of information. Starfleet has always tried to avoid armed conflict, but the Enterprise was designed to defend itself. It was protected by deflector shields, and had an impressive weapons arsenal that included both phasers and photon torpedoes, the latter of which had an effective range of 750,000 kilometers. The ship was also equipped with tractor beams that could take smaller ships in tow. Constitution-class ships were not designed to enter a planet's atmosphere, so the Enterprise relied on its transporters to send personnel to and from the surface of a planet. The Enterprise carried small shuttlecraft such as the Galileo for those occasions when the use of transporters was not possible. The shuttles could carry up to 24 passengers for limited journeys.

Captain Willard Decker took command of the Enterprise in 2270 during its refit. In 2271, Admiral Nogura gave Admiral Kirk command of the Enterprise making Captain Decker his first officer on the mission to intercept the V'Ger entity heading towards Earth. Decker physically joined with the V'Ger entity to keep it from destorying Earth. As a result he was listed as missing in action. Kirk embarked on his second five-year mission commanding the Enterprise afterward.

In 2277, Commander Spock was promoted to captain of the Enterprise. During this time the Enterprise was retired from exploratory duty and was assigned to Starfleet Academy as a cadet training ship. By 2285, Admiral Kirk joined Captain Spock as Academy instructors and rejoined the Enterprise to participate in an inspection and cadet training exercise. On that mission Kirk took command of the ship when Khan hijacked the USS Reliant NCC-1864 and attacked the crew of space station Regula I trying to find the Genesis Device. Kirk was successful in stopping Khan, however Spock died from severe radiation exposure saving the Enterprise.

Upon returning to Spacedock for repairs Kirk learned that the Enterprise would be scrapped, and he commandeered the Enterprise to the Genesis Planet to reunite Spock's katra with his body. While there Kirk ordered the self-destruct of the Enterprise to prevent it from falling into Klingon hands. He then gained control of the Klingon Bird of Prey and headed to Vulcan for the rebirth of Spock.

Star Trek: Universe background information
In 1972, the name Enterprise was given to the first NASA space shuttle, thanks to thousands of letters the agency received from Trekkies across the country. After hundreds of conceptual sketches Walter Matt Jefferies made a wooden model of the Enterprise to show Gene Roddenberry and Desilu executives. Only after when the model was turned upside-down did Roddenberry like it.

Related Links:
Designing the Enterprise, Redesigning the Enterprise, The Enterprise Refit of 2271 (EAS)