, exhibition, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC
鈥淭HERE are hull breaches on decks 4, 5 and 11, Captain, the starboard nacelle is ruptured along its length, and the bridge has taken a devil of a pounding!鈥� Those lines could come from any episode in any Star Trek series, as a stricken USS Enterprise fights destruction. Except the nacelle is venting wood chips, not plasma. And it鈥檚 not phaser damage 鈥� it鈥檚 paint peeling from the saucer section.
That鈥檚 because this Enterprise is a 3.5-metre long, 90-kilogram model built 50 years ago for the original series of Star Trek. In an age when computer-generated imagery is synonymous with science fiction, this spaceship is rather quaintly made of wood.
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鈥淭hat was pretty much it,鈥� says Margaret Weitekamp, lead space curator and cultural historian at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum鈥檚 new Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall in Washington DC. 鈥淭hat and plexiglass, vacuformed plastic and a good paint job. If you wanted a spaceship on TV, you had to build it and film it.鈥�
The Enterprise, designed by second world war pilot Matt Jefferies, broke SF rules, with 鈥渘o flying saucers, no pointy rockets,鈥� says Weitekamp.鈥滺e used 鈥榓ircraft logic鈥�: what do the parts do? These are engines, this is the bridge鈥� it has to seem like you鈥檝e thought through what it would require.鈥�
The model鈥檚 bridge was on top of the saucer with its curved corridors, engineering was beneath, between the engines. Jefferies left another legacy: Jefferies tubes. These connecting tunnels in the engineering system allowed crew to crawl through the ship鈥檚 innards and make vital repairs or hide from invading Romulans.
Over the years, the museum has shown the spaceship periodically, mostly hanging up. This took its toll on a model built for a studio: it started to sag. The engine pods spread apart, the nacelles tipped backward under their own weight, and paint cracked as wood expanded and contracted with heat and moisture.
Up close and worried
Restoring the original (built by modeller Richard Dayton) worried Weitekamp: 鈥淲hen you got up close, you saw all the flaws where they hammered in plexiglass. Some bits were burned, some unfinished and unpolished.鈥�
The model was repaired within two years, in time for the 50th anniversary of the first episode of Star Trek on 8 September. Weitekamp stopped worrying: 鈥淲e鈥檝e done so much,鈥� she says. The new version also updates the lights with LEDs. And painters who worked on the Star Trek franchise, John Goodson, Bill George and Kim Smith, add their own value. 鈥淕oodson is fascinated by burn marks, by char, by rust. He transfers that appearance of wear and tear to models.鈥�
Tellingly, the Enterprise is the only fictional artefact in the hall, something Weitekamp is very conscious about. She wanted 鈥渁 nod鈥� to SF, especially to Star Trek and the Trekkie phenomenon, which drove fan conventions, Klingon language and culture, film reinventions 鈥� and more. This plays to two of the museum鈥檚 big themes: imagination and inspiration. 鈥�Star Trek inspired today鈥檚 astronauts as Flash Gordon inspired Apollo astronauts,鈥� says Weitekamp.
Art imitates life imitates space travel. Engage鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淭he Enterprise reloaded鈥�
