10 Legendary Star Trek Kit-Bashes

The Challenger-class, so named by designer Ed Miarecki for the space shuttle, was unique among starships with more than one nacelle. It was the only one that had two nacelles that weren't perfectly in line with each other, which effectively broke Gene Roddenberry's rule of line of sight, that is to say that the multiple nacelles on starships had to be parallel to create a stable warp field - more on that later.

Mike Okuda remembered Miarecki originally designing the Challenger-class USS Buran with only one nacelle. He suggested adding a second one, though later regretted the overall look of the ship. In his opinion, when one looked on the Challenger-class, one would be reminded of a lollipop.

The Buran was one of the thirty nine ships lost at Wolf 359, and as such it was only designed to be shown in the background. It can be seen as the Enterprise-D arrives at the graveyard, floating below her as she slides into the destruction.