Orbital shuttle The Federation orbital shuttle was a type of shuttlecraft utilized in and around Earth and the Earth Spacedock . Many of these lost power when the Whale Probe bombarded Earth with humpback whale signals in the late 23rd century . ( ) Shuttles of this design remained in service on Earth and in orbital facilities even past the mid - 24th century . ( ) Appendices . Appearances . < div class = " appear " > Background information . No technical details were established for these models filmed in the Spacedock scenes , but a highly detailed model was numbered ' 5 ' in Star Trek IV and ' 6 ' ( " and " ' 7 ' ) in Star Trek III . The measurement information is based on the scale against the figures in the cockpit of the studio model . The shuttle can again be seen in Star Trek IV stock footage of Starfleet Headquarters in season 1 of TNG . Studio model . , was one of the few " Star Trek " productions that introduced a multitude of new space faring designs at once , six in this case , including the orbital shuttle . The orbital shuttle was purely an ILM initiative to beef out the atmosphere inside Earth Spacedock , as the craft has never been mentioned nor described in any of the scripts of the productions it has made an appearance in . Nor was it ever , aside from its visual appearances , referred to on - screen . It was Michael Okuda , apparently unaware of model maker Bill George ' s intent , who had to come up with the designation " orbital shuttle " for its inclusion in the , faithfully copied into the " Star Trek Fact Files " and . Design process . For " The Search for Spock " a unique approach to designing was adopted , not seen before or after in the " Star Trek " franchise . Instead of the traditional way of thinking out a design , devising a design , coming up with detailed drawings to be approved of by visual effects supervisors and building models from blueprints , this time visual artists David Carson and Nilo Rodis - Jamero of Industrial Light & Magic produced their pre - visualization artwork and handed it over to model makers Steve Gawley , Bill George and their team to be translated into study model s , in essence inviting them to use their own imagination to finish up on the design . Very much a collaborative effort , Carson later remembered , " " We ' d churn out quite a few sketches . Then the ones that were most promising we might polish up a little in color for presentation . It wasn ' t uncommon for me to do a drawing that would inspire Nilo , who would then turn it into his own drawing that would be much more impressive ! He would often inspire me . " " ( ) Once turned over to the model makers the resulting study models were presented to producer Harve Bennett and / or director Leonard Nimoy for appraisal or as supervising model maker Gawley put it , " " You had all these models sitting on a table so that the director could really get a feel for what we were talking about . It just made everything easier to understand , and insured that everybody was on the same page . It also made it easier to give cost estimates . " " ( ) Director of Photography Kenneth Ralston elaborated further , " " From the beginning , once Nilo Rodis , one of the visual effects art directors , had done a sketch and they got an idea of what direction to go , the model people all built prototypes . The space dock had four or five small prototypes . The Bird of Prey , I think , had only two because we all knew this one design would work and we were selling that one . The Merchant Man and the " Grissom " also had several designs . When Leonard and Harve and Ralph Winter came to meetings we presented them with three dimensional models . It really is a lot better doing it that way because they can physically see how different angles would work . " " ( " American Cinematographer " , August / September 1984 , p . 62 ) The physical studio model . Bill George further refined Nilo - Jamero ' s preliminary design , and the design went through at least two study models . However , he specifically stated " It ' s a tug " and built the eventual filming model as such . He intended the array of quarter - circle ribs on the back of the ship between the engines to be tractor beam emitter s . The idea behind the concept was that these craft would act as tugboats in spacedock , which is why they were moving around the , ready to guide her if necessary , very much like present - day harbor tugboats . To further reinforce the notion of the craft being a heavy - duty utility vessel , he clad the pilot miniature figures , seated in the cockpit , in environmental suit s . The model was filmed twice at ILM , labeled " 7 " for " The Search for Spock " , and relabeled " 5 " for . Every other subsequent appearance has been stock footage of these two filming sessions . The model has not been seen since , and its current whereabouts are unknown . The model as matte painting . The two vessels , seen parked on the tarmac of the Federation Council grounds in " The Voyage Home " was not footage of the physical studio model , but were rather executed as a matte painting , undoubtedly using the model as reference . A hard - edged matte was left out the foreground of the painting , to be filled in by a live action plate that was photographed on an open expanse of concrete at the Oakland International Airport . The interaction of the costumed extras with this footage combined with the artwork was composited into the final footage by ILM ' s Matte Painting Supervisor , while his colleague Craig Barron provided the footage of the painting itself . ( " Cinefex " , issue 29 , pp . 9 - 10 ) A third craft seen taking off in the upper right was footage of the studio model , composited into the shot . of the shot were later reused in ( cropped to the left ) and ( cropped to the right ) .