Star Trek: 10 Secrets About Spacedock One You Need To Know
8. Ship Shapes In Shot
Over the course of its live-action appearances, we have seen seven starships inside the Spacedock structures. There were three types of Enterprise with the refit, -A and -D. The Excelsior was shown in Star Trek III, along with an unnamed Miranda Class ship in The Voyage Home and that reuse of the Planet of the Titans concept hidden in the background. According to graphics later sold at auction which were used in the spacedock scenes, this Miranda Class might be the USS Intrepid.
Eagle-eyed viewers can spot an Oberth Class ship present as the crew is transported to the Enterprise-A for the first time at the end of The Voyage Home. The registry on the craft is NCC-640, the USS Copernicus. The Oberth Class model would next appear as the SS Tsiolkovsky in TNG's The Naked Now. As the model was shown from a distance in said episode, with no close-ups (at least in 1987), nothing was changed. It's fair to say that no one expected a remaster to follow in the years to come.
As for smaller craft, two types are utilised inside Spacedock. One is the travelpod first used in The Motion Picture to transport Kirk and Scotty to the refitted USS Enterprise and the second is termed as an orbital shuttle and in some cases a Starfleet tug. It would be seen in the third, fourth and fifth movies with reused footage featuring it in the first season of TNG.