The U.S.S. Enterprise, NCCÐ1701-D, is a Galaxy class starship built at 
the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards above Mars. It was commissioned in 2363, and 
is currently under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. This latest 
starship to bear the name Enterprise is StarfleetÕs flagship and has already 
distinguished itself in an impressive number of significant missions of 
exploration, as well as in several crucial incidents defending the security of 
the Federation.
	Seen from a comfortable distance of two or three kilometers, the 
starship takes on the graceful lines of a nonrepresentational organic 
sculpture. Nature has determined the flow of the design, adhering closely to 
mathematical formulae at work in the universe surrounding the builders. 
Even in the desire to expand beyond the apparent limits of the natural world, 
familiar forces create familiar shapes. As the rapid aquatic and avian 
creatures of dozens of habitable worlds independently developed the 
unmistakable attributes of streamlining, so too did their interstellar cousin.  Æ