Star Trek Discovery Season 3: Everything You Need To Know

13. The USS Discovery

So… the basics first:

Taking place just before the adventures of Captain Kirk and Spock in the original Star Trek series, Star Trek: Discovery is a loose prequel, set in the mid-23rd century. The series is (appropriately) set aboard the USS Discovery, NCC-1031, a Crossfield-class starship that's the height of technology in its time.

The Discovery is part of a larger fleet of starships known as Starfleet – the paramilitary, peacekeeping, explorational, and humanitarian arm of the United Federation of Planets. The Federation is the utopian society at the heart of the Star Trek Universe, a collection of worlds (including Earth) all working together to build a brighter, happier future, despite occasional interference from alien warriors or even technology run amuck (more on that later).