Aeroshuttle An aeroshuttle was a runabout - like spacecraft embedded in the saucer underside of starship s . In 2376 , Dala and Zar , posing as Captain Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay , showed Varn a schematic of the which identified its aeroshuttle . ( ) A graphic of an aeroshuttle also appeared in ' database while it was being viewed by Captain Archer and T ' Pol in 2152 . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The aeroshuttle was initially not represented on " Voyager " ' s master systems display as devised by Doug Drexler , seen in the early episodes , but showed up in the graphic from onward . Dexler clarified , " " I drew the original MSD for the back of the bridge . After that , Wendy cut and pasted it to suit episode specific situations , " " to which designer Rick Sternbach half jokingly added , " " The screenshots that do show the AeroShuttle ( outline or filled ) seem to be of the early shape that I can only describe as looking like George Jetson ' s flying car . I don ' t believe the true elevation was ever inserted into the cutaway art . " " Specifications . Sternbach ' s original design for the Aeroshuttle of March 1994 , listed the following specifications : History . The official name of this spacecraft was changed from AeroWing because of an existing " Mighty Ducks " trademark . According to the " Voyager " writers ' guidebook , " " , when detached , its aeroshuttle was capable of atmospheric flight as well as interstellar travel at speeds up to warp 3 . The cockpit was designed for a crew of four . Despite this description , the writers never used " Voyager " s aeroshuttle , prompting Rick Sternbach to develop the following explanation for his article " " Intrepid " - Class Lineage " : " The Aeroshuttle was the only upgraded component to the " Intrepid " - class that remained in the development cycle long after the other major systems had been frozen and released for fabrication and assembly . " Based on the existing Starfleet runabout platform , the Aeroshuttle was given a 450 percent increase in atmospheric flight and hover endurance over standard shuttlecraft . This was accomplished through the use of hybrid microfusion and EM driven airflow coil engines . " Although the Aeroshuttle spaceframe and basic systems were completed by Stardate 46875 . 3 , final outfitting of mission - specific hardware was delayed until simulations and flight testing with the could be completed . " Sternbach revisited the aeroshuttle in far more detail in a " Starfleet Technical Database " article which appeared in : CGI model . The aeroshuttle originated as a design by Rick Sternbach who conceived it as early March 1994 as part of the design process of the USS " Voyager " , labeling his design " Manta Shuttle " . As to the function of the wings , he stated , " " Wings aren ' t so much wings in the 24th century when we have EM field effect lift and impulse thrust and mass - reduction technology . The AeroShuttle appendages are more pylons for the warp nacelles and landing gear and RCS gear . They look cool , but they aren ' t designed to be aerodynamic . " " Sternbach purposefully endowed his design with a cockpit so that use could be made of the existing interior cockpit sets of that class , " " The original proposal drawing of the " Manta " shuttle was included in the ton of other " Voyager " drawings for the producers , and the idea for using at least the Runabout cockpit was part of that . Foundation requested the Manta art as a starting point for the Aerowing ( more properly called the AeroShuttle due to a toy licensing conflict ) , so that was provided , along with the ventral outline from the 5 ' " Voyager " blueprints . It ' s really too bad that we couldn ' t have used the AeroShuttle somewhere , but we can chalk that up to weird decisions about captain ' s yachts , money , and segregation of the different series ' assets . " " Sternbach shortly revisited his design , as the aeroshuttle was tapped to make an appearance , not in the show , but in the licensed book , " " , " " Basically , I did the original " Manta " sketch and the bottom view ( more for the " Voyager " miniature than anything else at the time ) . I think I pretty much just eliminated the protrusions in the front and bobbed the tail ; sometimes something just looks better or fits the originating culture more consistently . Foundation extrapolated the full AeroShuttle from both bits of art , with the bottom view driving some minor shape changes like the nacelle fronts . I didn ' t do any revising after that and there was no real feedback related to the original art bits . " " Rob Bonchune , who eventually created a full rendering of " Voyager " s aeroshuttle , added , " " In a nutshell , back at Foundation , we got into our heads that it would be cool to see the " captain ' s yacht " of the " Voyager " , that being the AeroShuttle . Rick Sternbach gratuitously did a prelim design and I used part of that and designed the ship you see here . Mojo and I did a whole launch sequence , on spec , meaning " free " and then had it shown to Rick Berman . The response : Mr . Berman thought it was nice , but didn ' t want to trump the captain ' s yacht launch sequence from the upcoming film . As you remember that was a VERY dramatic , epic and cool launch sequence . " " With regards to the design , Bonchune stated , " " Well , I remember Rick Sternbach saying that the four protruding rectangles represent landing pads . Seems silly as in scale they are way oversized . But , for the big " Voyager " miniature , I guess it was added detail . " " As for what happened to the initial project , Bonchune said that " " if we had aired the ship , I was going to refine the wings to be a little less " blunt trauma " to the aerodynamics . But when we got nixed , we moved on . . . so , it stands as is . " " Rob Bonchune ' s website features a video of an aeroshuttle launch , likely from the original proposal . The CGI model was first presented to the general public in , in the " " to which co - author Alex Rosenzweig commented , " " When I worked on aeroshuttle text for " Starship Spotter " , I had a whole paragraph that I wrote , talking about how the " Voyager " s aeroshuttle hadn ' t been ready when the ship went on its mission into the Badlands , and how the completed shuttle was finally fitted to the refitted " Voyager " with great ceremony and circumstance after the ship ' s return from the Delta Quadrant . Alas , the rule from Licensing was that we weren ' t allowed to invent stuff like that , which hadn ' t been established on the show , so nothing came of said idea . But it was very much based on my agreement with you that a vehicle like the aeroshuttle would have made the " Delta Flyer " utterly unnecessary . Oh , well . . . " " Rosenzweig ' s notion was partially followed by Sternbach in his later " Starfleet Technical Database " article . Orthographic views of the model were published in , in the . Bonchune ' s render of " Voyager " s aeroshuttle was featured in the April spread of the " " calendar , entitled " Deployed " . Apocrypha . While the playable " Intrepid " - class science vessel in " Star Trek Online " initially didn ' t feature the Aeroshuttle , it was added as an optional console that came with the Tier 6 " Pathfinder " - class variant in the " Delta Rising " expansion .