- Phoenix (Star Trek)
The "Phoenix" is the fictional first human-made
spacecraft to travel beyond thespeed of light in theStar Trek science fiction film '.cite book|title=The Star Trek Encyclopedia |author=Okuda, Mike and Denise Okuda, with Debbie Mirek|publisher=Pocket Books|id=ISBN 0-671-53609-5|year=1999] It also appears in the opening sequence of all but two episodes of '. [cite web|url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/cda/html/images/feature/docs/ent_open/timeline_begin.html| title=Star Trek Timeline: Enterprise Opening|accessdate=2007-06-09|publisher=Startrek.com ]Production
The Phoenix was designed by Herman Zimmerman and John Eaves, and was loosely based on a conjectural model created by Greg Jein that appeared in the first edition of "The Star Trek Chronology" in 1993. The ship was redesigned for "Star Trek: First Contact" because that film revealed that the ship was launched from an uprated Titan V rocket, a plot point unknown to Jein when the first edition of the "Chronology" was published. When the second, revised version of the "Chronology" was published in 1996, the information on the "Phoenix" was corrected to reflect the canonical information established in the film.
Fictional history
The fictional characters
Zefram Cochrane andLily Sloane built the "Phoenix" from an oldTitan V nuclear missile. Lt. Commander Data remarks upon the irony regarding a nuclear missile being used to usher in an era of peace.As depicted in "First Contact", the "Phoenix"
' s voyage occurs onApril 5 , 2063, and its mission initiates first contact betweenEarth and extraterrestrials when a Vulcan survey ship detects the ship's warp signature. The Borg in that film travel in time in an attempt to prevent first contact and to assimilate Earth, but the USS "Enterprise"-E's crew manages to thwart their plan.Legacy
As mentioned in "", the Phoenix is stored at the
Smithsonian Museum by the 24th Century, and Cochrane's flight is the focus of a course taught atStarfleet Academy .According to "
The Star Trek Encyclopedia ", the 24th Century Nebula-classStarfleet vessel that appeared in the fourth season "" episode "" was thought to have been named after Cochrane's historic ship.References
External links
* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/ships/article/123040.html The "Phoenix" at StarTrek.com]
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