10 Star Trek Easter Eggs & References In Starfield

The hub of the Starfield universe is the city of New Atlantis, capital of the United Colonies, and home to Constellation. You'll find it at Alpha Centauri — the closest star system to Earth in real galactic terms, and one that also features quite heavily in Star Trek (Zefram Cochrane moved there for a bit, in fact).

What makes the stars truly align in this case is that the planet on which New Atlantis was founded is named Jemison, after Dr Mae Jemison, former NASA astronaut and first African-American woman in space.

Dr Jemison equally happens to be a lifelong Star Trek fan, citing Nichelle Nichols in the role of Uhura as an inspiration for her journey to space. Nichols herself was a NASA pioneer, spearheading a recruitment campaign in the 1970s to encourage women and people of colour to join the program.

When then first-time director of episode Second Chances, LeVar Burton, heard that Jemison was a fan of the show, he invited her to play transporter operator Lieutenant jg Palmer. Not only that, but Burton also invited Nichols to set for the filming of the transporter room scenes. There is a wonderful photo of Jemison and Nichols together in mid-conversation in a corridor of the Enterprise-D.