Shuttlecraft (Star Trek)

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Shuttlecraft are fictional vehicles in the Star Trek science fiction franchise built for short trips in space, such as between a planetary surface and orbit. Also referred to as shuttles, their introduction preceded the development of the Space Shuttle.

Before Star Trek, science fiction productions from Forbidden Planet to Rocky Jones, Space Ranger assumed that a long-range starship would land on planets. Gene Roddenberry's original premise stated that the starship Enterprise rarely lands. Given the special effects complexity of landing a giant starship each week, "rarely" was quickly changed to "never".^[1] Dated March 1964, the premise mentions a "small shuttle rocket".^[2] The shuttle rocket was too expensive to build for the first episodes. For most of the series the transporter served to teleport characters on and off the ship.

In the first year of Star Trek: The Original Series, the need quickly developed for shuttlecraft. Used to carry personnel, cargo and reconnaissance payloads, shuttles filled the same need as boats on a navy ship. They were also used by starbases. For television writers, they served the dramatic function of putting characters in a small ship that could get lost. Though shuttlecraft were initially expensive to build, they were eventually used in every Star Trek series. Shuttlecraft designs were often shared across different media, for example the Danube-class runabout featured heavily in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was also featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation.