Star Trek: 10 Design Secrets Behind Iconic Ships

Finally we turn to the ship that started it all, the quintessential Star Trek vessel and arguably the face of science-fiction in popular culture.

The design of the Enterprise began with what Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry did not want: none of the air-foils, rocket-tube shapes, or fiery exhausts typical of then contemporary sci-fi. The ship had to be unique yet still believable and based on reasonably solid scientific concepts.

Accordingly designer Matt Jeffries, who had experience as a flight test engineer, thought practically. Reasoning that the Enterprise’s Warp Drive meant terrifically powerful – and potentially dangerous – engines, he positioned them away from the crew, thus creating the Enterprise’s signature separation of hull and engines.

The command hull, too, began practically. Knowing that the best pressure vessel is a ball Jeffries initially designed the command section as a sphere, but this proved too bulky and Jeffries gradually flattened it out into the now iconic saucer section.

Jeffries would face one last hurdle – keeping the ship the right way up. When the final design was presented to studio executives Rodenberry picked the model up by the string, causing it to flip over, an orientation he preferred. As Jeffries recalled: “I had an awful time trying to unsell that.”

But fortunately he did and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.