Type 15 shuttlepod The Type 15 shuttlepod was a Federation shuttlepod carried by Starfleet vessel s , a small version of Starfleet ' s larger shuttlecraft . Service history . Type 15 shuttlepods were introduced sometime prior to 2365 . They were part of the standard shuttle complement on , , and starships . ( ; ) Technical data . Type 15 shuttlepods were equipped with two long range 750 millicochrane impulse driver engine s , also known as impulse nacelle s , which were located on either side of the craft . The shuttlepod was also equipped with eight DeFI 657 hot gas RCS thruster s , also known as microfusion thruster s . In addition to a primary deuterium supply , power was provided by three sarium krellide cells . ( " display graphic " ) These shuttles did not have warp capability . ( ) However , if launched from a starship at warp , they could travel at warp for an undetermined period of time . Type 15 shuttlepods were also equipped with deflector shield s . ( ) The normal flight crew was two pilots , although the shuttle could easily be operated by a single person . Some configurations even included only a single pilot seat . ( ) The ship also had a small cargo space , which could be used for carrying supplies . The cargo area was loaded and accessed through a hatch in the back of the craft . ( ) The Type 15 was not normally outfitted to carry passengers , but in some configurations a bench was located in the cargo area for an additional passenger . In this configuration , the cargo hatch included a round emergency egress point , which could be blown away by explosive charges . ( ) Appendices . Background information . In a preliminary sketch from January 1989 , Sternbach set the dimensions of the Type 15 at 12 feet long , 5 . 6 feet high , and 6 feet wide . ( " " , page 79 ) The Type 15 designation was never given on screen , but was derived from the " " . The " Manual " also stated that the production base of shuttlepods was the Starbase 134 integration facility on Rigel VI . There were in fact three different types of shuttlepods of this design . The Type 15 had a delta - vee of 12 , 800 meters per second and a mass of 0 . 86 ton s . The Type 15A had a delta - vee of 13 , 200 meters per second and a mass of 0 . 97 ton . The Type 16 had a delta - vee of 12 , 250 meters per second and a mass of 1 . 25 tons . All types of shuttlepods had the standard armament of two type 4 phaser s . Only the Type 16 was equipped with the 750 millicochrane nacelles . The Type 15 pods had 500 millicochrane nacelles . Studio model . The shuttlepod was designed by Rick Sternbach but almost did not get made . It was slated for introduction in the second season episode to alleviate the costs associated with building exteriors and mock - ups of the larger , more elaborate types of warp - capable passenger shuttles . These ships were also designated to carry fewer people , and had slower speeds . However , the art department had a bad experience in building the full scale mock - up of the first shuttle , the Type 7 shuttlecraft , built for . The complicated curves of that design caused significant troubles in constructing the mock - up with regard to bending the wood enough . Some of the curves had to be built up with putty . All this resulted in a full scale exterior that was not entirely convincing and could only be shot from limited angles , since only one side was constructed . The art department was less than enthusiastic with the prospect of building yet another complicated shuttle design . Sternbach remembered " " Everybody was kind of scratching their heads , and thinking that maybe we ' d have to write the shuttlepod out . I cautiously went up to the front of the room with this very rough but fairly clear sketch . I said , " What if we made it fairly simple ? just planar construction ; no compound curves . We can make it look Starfleet ; that isn ' t the issue . If we do something like this we can make the construction simple , but also make it interesting . " They all looked at me , looked at the sketch , and said , " Ahh , OK . " Then they approved it . " " ( , page 112 ) Sternbach finalized his design in March 1989 and set designer Richard McKenzie drew up construction plans for the full - scale mock - up which was built with relative ease , resulting in a mock - up which could be shot from all angles . The miniature studio model was built by Gregory Jein . The model was featured in the " Inside the Star Trek Archives " special of TNG Season 2 DVD , disc six . A tiny miniature of a Type 15 shuttlepod was constructed by Ed Miarecki along with five matching Type 6 shuttlecraft miniatures to go with the model he made of the main shuttlebay of the for a close up scene in . Ultimately however , in the scene as screened only two of the Type 6 shuttles were shown . By the fifth season of TNG , the shuttlepod was joined by the larger Type 6 shuttlecraft , which also had a full - scale mock - up that matched its filming miniature . The interior set of the shuttlepod was also reused in for the cockpit of the Federation attack fighter s in and the Type 18 shuttlepod interior in and . The mock - up was demolished after the series wrapped . As of 2009 , the studio model miniature , having escaped the and It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction auctions , is still in the possession of Paramount Pictures , having been on tour displays such as " Star Trek World Tour " , " " , and " " as late as 2008 , labeled " 09 " though otherwise unnamed . A set of seven of Sternbach ' s design sketches was offered in the The Ultimate Sci - Fi Auction of 26 April 2003 as , estimated at US $ 300 - $ 500 , selling for $ 275 .