Starship Design: USS Explorer

Artist: Joe Creighton
Pen and ink on paper
1988

Being a fan of the Star Trek phenomenon, I was always interested in the many different starship designs shown, especially in the feature films. When the first season of television's Star Trek: The Next Generation aired in 1987 and I saw the smooth, graceful lines of this newest USS Enterprise, my creative and artistic streak bubbled to the surface and I wanted to design the look for a new class of starship.

This new vessel would have been a predecessor to the Galaxy Class (NCC-1701-D) and a second generation successor to the feature film's Constitution Class (NCC-1701-A). The design of the Excelsior Class (NX-2000) may have also had some influences on it.

So, with imagination in tow, I sat down and came up with the design you see here: the USS Explorer - first vessel in the Explorer Class. (I wasn't so far gone as to actually name her the Enterprise ;-) Her pre-history, inception, design details, and technical statistics were included in a 15 page bound and illustrated book -- something I won't be bothering you with here (even if I could find it).

Of course, the series eventually created just such a design in the third season episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" in December of 1990: the Ambassador Class USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C).

Looking back on it all, it was a fun project nonetheless.

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