Ship Shepard

Name	U.S.S. Alan Shepard
Registry	NCC-551961
Class	Discovery class Long Range Science Vessel
Captain	Sanek

Introduction

     "It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."

-Alan Shepard after the Freedom 7 flight.

Mission Summary

     The U.S.S. Alan Shepard was tasked with deep space research along the Romulan Neutral Zone, Khazan Cluster, and Eridan Belt. These roles were fulfilled by Captain Sanek during its first operational cruise after upon completion of its shakedown cruise. Once those missions were completed, several other missions into other regions of deep space were conducted and executed by Starfleet mandate. It's last mission was into the Delta Volanis Cluster to catalog and research a new anomaly encountered there.

Vessel Namesake

     The U.S.S. Alan Shepard is named after American Astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space. On May 5th, 1961, Alan Shepard piloted space capsule Freedom 7 into a ballistic trajectory suborbital flight to an altitude of 116 statute miles. Shepard went on to Apollo Project, where he flew as the mission commander for Apollo 14, the third Apollo mission to land on the moon.

Further Notes

     On Stardate 87459.61 the USS Alan Shepard, under the command of (then) Fleet Captain Sanek, reached Delta Volanis Cluster Anomaly DC-8538-AA with the mission to study and catalog the anomaly. During the initial survey, the anomaly collapsed into a singularity which enveloped the vessel with its gravitational field. The Alan Shepard was able to escape the field before being drawn into the event horizon; however, the gravitational forces caused catastrophic damage to the vessel with 89 casualties, some serious (but no deaths). Despite being able to bring the vessel back to Sol, Fleet Captain Sanek was brought up before an Admiralty hearing for this action, pursuant to safety protocols and the near loss of the vessel. Repairs to the Alan Shepard are estimated to take up to two standard years.

Ship Specifications

Production Base: ASDB Integration Facility, Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards – Mars

Type: Discovery class Long Range Science Vessel

Accommodation: 260 crew and officers, 450 evacuation limit

Power Plant: One 2550 plus Serova swirl warp core feeding two hinged nacelles; one impulse system

Dimensions: Length 375 meters, Beam 142 meters, Height 82 meters

Mass: 715,000 metric tons

Performance: Cruise Speed - Warp 6 / Max Cruise - Warp 9 / Max Speed - Warp 9.975

Armament: 1 Type X Phaser Array / Tri-Cobalt Photon Torpedo tubes (1 fore, 1 aft)