Star Trek U.S.S. EXCELSIOR NCC-2000 Starship Plastic Model Kit (AMT 1994)
The USS Excelsior (NX-2000) was the first starship of her class and commissioned as a testbed for new technologies by Starfleet Command, hence the name the "Great Experiment". One of these technologies, transwarp drive, was seen as a possible revolution in starship design, with the potential to open up the entire galaxy to exploratory missions due to vastly increased speed. Sulu (who eventually becomes her Captain), marvels at the ship, however Montgomery Scott dismisses it as a "bucket of bolts". The transwarp drive failed on Excelsior's first mission (the pursuit of the hijacked USS Enterprise) due to sabotage by Scott, who was very briefly appointed "Captain of Engineering" on the vessel, to his chagrin. By the time she was seen much more extensively in Star Trek VI, the ship had been reclassified as NCC-2000, notably excluding the experimental transwarp drive of her prototype. The Excelsior-class spaceframe proved to be remarkably durable, able to withstand considerable punishment both from the elements and enemy vessels alike (in Star Trek VI, Excelsior sustains a direct photon torpedo strike to the saucer section, only to have it absorbed by the shields). This accounts for the considerable number of vessels remaining in Starfleet, even several decades later into the era of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Notable appearances of Excelsior class are shown in DS9 episodes "Paradise Lost" and "For the Uniform". Several Excelsior class ships were also used in battles with The Dominion A USS Excelsior is mentioned in the TNG episode Interface, which searched for the USS Hera, commanded by the mother of Enterprise-D chief engineer Geordi La Forge. It is unknown if it is the same vessel as seen in the TOS-era films, and her class is not mentioned.