Star Trek: How EVERY Captain Became Captain

James Tiberius Kirk is arguably the most famous captain in Star Trek history. His exploits aboard the Enterprise and the Enterprise 1701-A became the stuff of legends. He was required reading at the academy and future captains would read about his adventures in grade school.

Born on March 22nd, 2233 in Iowa, Kirk would go on to enter the academy in 2252, aided by a mentor named Mallory, whose son would later be killed on an away mission under Kirk. At the academy, Kirk gained a name for himself for being the only cadet ever to beat the Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario.

Early in his career, he and Janice Lester worked together, lamenting the lack of opportunities for women to command in Starfleet. This would return to haunt him later. Young Kirk was also a strictly by the book ensign, once logging a mistake that dropped one of his then-friends to the bottom of the promotion list.

One of Kirk's most affecting assignments was that of phaser officer aboard the USS Farragut. Here, he would end up blaming himself for a deadly attack by a space borne entity that killed both his Captain and two hundred of the crew. Kirk logged that it was his hesitation to fire that caused the accident, while the ship's executive officer logged that Kirk performed his duties well.

Perhaps as a result of this, Kirk's dedication to his duties grew even stronger and he rose through the ranks quickly, resulting in, at the age of thirty two, taking command of the USS Enterprise from Captain Pike in 2265.