First Flight ( episode ) When he is told of the death of an old rival , Archer reflects on his days in the NX test program . Summary . Teaser . detects a nebula of what they believe to be dark matter . This would be the first time either Human s or Vulcan s have seen such a large concentration of dark matter . Sub - commander T ' Pol is skeptical , but Captain Archer wants to explore it . Although it is not visible at the moment , Archer recalls an experiment in which Vulcans excited dark matter using metreon particle s , deciding to give it a try despite T ' Pol ' s note that the experiment was on small dark matter concentrations . Archer ' s excitement at discovering the nebula is dampened when Admiral Forrest contacts him and informs him that an old comrade , A . G . Robinson , had died in a mountaineering accident . Act One . Archer and enthusiastically talk preparations for the . After Tucker loads the six spatial charge s to excite the dark matter , the two briefly discuss Robinson and how he survived all the warp trials only to die in a random accident . Tucker offers to come along , but Archer would rather go alone . Before he can go , however , T ' Pol enters and insists on accompanying him due to ship regulations prohibiting the captain from leaving the ship unaccompanied . As they head to the first set of coordinates to launch the charges , T ' Pol asks Archer about Robinson , having gotten the basic details from Tucker . Although Archer initially claims that he doesn ' t want to talk about it , he finally begins to tell her about him and how they were in the NX Project along with a couple of others and that they both wanted to be be the pilot of the first flight to break warp 2 . . . Commander Jonathan Archer meets with Commodore Forrest and proudly announces that he achieved a 92 % efficiency in the warp reactor simulation . But he is disappointed when Forrest tells him that Robinson had been selected to pilot the NX - Alpha . Archer is clearly disappointed , but promises to fully support Robinson ' s flight . That night , he has a drink with Robinson and several other pilots at the 602 Club . Taking him aside , Robinson tells Archer that he did not get the assignment because he is too by - the - book and that Starfleet want someone with more than just piloting ability take command of the first starship . T ' Pol is confused , as she had thought Archer and Robinson were friends but it sounds like they were opposed to each other . Archer admits they were more rivals than anything at this point , but they both enjoyed the competition . T ' Pol points out that Robinson was right , in that it takes more than piloting abilities to be a captain . Archer agrees , and T ' Pol notes that he has developed the necessary skills . Archer is bemused that T ' Pol just gave him what came close to a compliment , but tells her than the test flight didn ' t go as planned . Two weeks later , however , Robinson easily breaks the warp 2 barrier , but problems arise . But when he ignores orders to drop to impulse , he accelerates further , reaching warp 2 . 2 at great risk . The ship eventually slows down and the escape pod jettisons as the ship explodes . Archer can remember trying to contact him repeatedly . Act Two . At this point , Archer and T ' Pol launch two of the charges but fail to get a reaction . They decide to move deeper into the nebula , and T ' Pol asks what happened next . Archery notes that Robinson did indeed survive and enter the history books as the first Human to deploy an escape pod at warp . However no - one was very happy as he almost derailed the Project . The Vulcan observers immediately claim that this proves that Human s are progressing in warp technology too quickly , and that the Program will have to be postponed and the warp engine built from scratch . Archer expresses outrage at the idea , and he is joined by ( then Lieutenant ) Tucker , working as an engineer in the Program . Both insist that the engine design is sound and is just undergoing some teething problems . Robinson insists that risks will need to be taken if they want to make any progress , but Forrest puts an end to the discussion Later in the 602 Club , Archer and Tucker , talking for the first time , agree that it isn ' t the engine at fault , but rather the intermix ratio . However Forrest arrives with bad news . . . on the advice of the Vulcan Advisory Council , Starfleet Command has decided to put the NX Program on indefinite hold and wish to begin designing a new engine from scratch , a process that will likely take years , if not decades . Later , after Forrest has left , Robinson arrives after his debriefing . Archer and Tucker ask him what he told Starfleet and the Vulcans and he tells them he told the truth , that the engine destabilized . This just adds to Archer ' s anger , since if Robinson had admitted the possibility of pilot error then Starfleet may not have taken the Vulcans recommendation to delay the Program indefinitely . Or , if Robinson had stopped the ship when ordered , they still would have had the ship and could have continued the Program by fine - tuning the engine . Robinson tells him that he had no intention of taking the blame and confronts Archer with his frequently blaming other factors for his father ' s warp engine design other than the design itself . Archer is incensed and the two get into a fight , which is shortly broken up . Act Three . The shuttlepod ' s systems are affected by the dark matter . T ' Pol is unsure if they should proceed , but Archer tells her that taking risks is part of their job , something Robinson taught him . He admits that the fight turned out to be the beginning of his friendship with AG , who may have been responsible for nearly derailing the program but was also partly responsible for getting it back on track . Archer discovers Robinson in the locker room packing , and convinces him that if they could get the intermix right , the ship would achieve stable warp flight . The two apologize for their earlier words , with Archer admitting that he had problems being objective about the engine but knows that if they prove the findings they can stop the program being scrapped . Robinson points out that the Vulcans will need a lot more than just findings , and reminds Archer they still have the NX - Beta . Archer knows they ' ll never get clearance , but Robinson never said anything about getting clearance and reminds him that a good captain will need to take risks . Archer is reluctant , knowing this will likely lead to dismissal from Starfleet and possibly even prison , but agrees . Archer and T ' Pol fire the second round of charges which again fail , leaving them with only one more attempt to excite the dark matter . T ' Pol notes there is no record of Starfleet pilots stealing the NX - Beta . Archer thinks T ' Pol doesn ' t believe him , and she responds that the part of the story she has trouble believing is that he had to be convinced to take the risk . Archer tells her he was quite different back then , an officer who always followed the rules . T ' Pol wants to hear what happened , and Archer agrees on the condition she doesn ' t enter it into the Vulcan database . Archer and Robinson decide to launch at night , and Tucker quickly agrees to assist on the ground . Tucker notes how much he wishes he could go out there too , and Archer promises to have the engineer on his crew if he ever gets his own ship . Tucker disables the tracking sensors and creates false data to make it appear the NX - Beta will still be in its hangar . NX - Beta launches and it goes unobserved by people outside , but the three officers know it won ' t be long before New Berlin ' s sensors pick the ship up . Archer and Robinson are unconcerned , knowing they ' ll be too far away to be caught before then . Indeed , New Berlin quickly detects the ship and Commodore Forest realizes what has happened almost immediately . On the NX - Beta , Robinson allows Archer to pilot since he got to do it last time . Watching the intermix closely , they receive a communication from Forrest ordering them to return immediately , promising he ' ll do his best to see they avoid criminal charges if they do . The officers cut him off and , just as Forrest thinks things can ' t get any worse , two Vulcans enter , ruining any chance he had of keeping this incident from them . NX - Beta reaches warp 2 , but then starts to have the same engine problems that the NX - Alpha had . Act Four . As Tucker and Forrest monitor from Earth , Robinson quickly brings it under control through the right intermix ratio and the ship holds steady at warp 2 . 5 , a new record . Forrest congratulates them , and sternly orders them back to Earth . Archer and Robinson are hauled to Forrest ' s office where he furiously reprimands them for their actions , telling them their actions were irresponsible , reckless , and verging on criminal . He immediately suspends them from duty and reminds them that they ' ve undermined the program by making it seem like Starfleet can ' t keep its pilots under control . Archer and Robinson accept they ' re likely to be kicked out of Starfleet for this , but its a small sacrifice to keep the NX Program going . Every engineer on the staff believes the engines work , and Archer asks Forrest why they ' re waiting to explore the galaxy . Archer tells T ' Pol that he and Robinson managed to avoid a court martial , but were suspended for three month s . However the NX Program continued , and for over a year the Vulcans ran every test they could on the engine before finally confirming the design worked . Eight months later , the NX - Delta broke the warp 3 barrier and five years later " Enterprise " was built . The particle density of the dark matter has increased , so they decide to fire the last two charges . At first , nothing seems to happen . . . but then , a few seconds later , a new nebula begins to appear . T ' Pol admits this is going to cause a debate at the Vulcan Science Directorate , however Archer is enraptured at the beauty of what ' s happening , and he urges T ' Pol to leave the sensors alone and just watch what is happening . He tells her that this sort of thing is why he and AG worked so hard and risked so much . T ' Pol notes that Robinson obviously wanted to command " Enterprise " as much as Archer did . Archer tells her that while there were plenty of candidates , he and Robinson were the final two remaining . Six months before " Enterprise " s launch , Archer was selected to command the new starship . Captain Robinson congratulates Captain Archer on getting the much - wanted assignment , joking that he ' d rather wait for NX - 02 so that Archer can make all the mistakes first . He then leaves to get an early night as he has survival training the next day , but promises he ' ll see Archer ' out there ' . Archer is sad at the thought that Robinson never did make it into deep space , as he and T ' Pol head back to the " Enterprise " . Docking , T ' Pol reminds him of the Human custom that when someone makes a discovery of merit they have the right to name it . Archer suggests the T ' Pol - Archer Nebula , but T ' Pol believes the Robinson Nebula would be a more appropriate choice . Archer is touched by her thoughtfulness . Memorable quotes . " " All the close calls he had flying warp trials and he gets himself killed climbing Mount McKinley . " " " " There were just a few of us ; Gardner , Duvall , A . G . , and me . We all wanted the first flight . " " " " You remember what Buzz Aldrin said when he stepped onto the moon ? " " " " No . " " " " Nobody does . Because Armstrong went first . " " " " Congratulations . " " " " You mean that ? " " " " Of course not . I ' m waiting for Forrest to realize what a horrible mistake he made . " " " " When the first warp five starship is built , its captain won ' t be able to call home every time he needs to make a decision . He won ' t be able to turn to the Vulcans . Unless he decides to take one with him . " " " " Don ' t worry , you ' ll get out there some day . If I had my own ship , I ' d sign you up in a second . " " " " I ' m going to hold you to that ! " " " " We didn ' t build this engine to make test runs around Jupiter . We built it to explore ! If my father were alive today , he ' d be standing here asking : ' What the hell are we waiting for ? ' " " Links and references . References . 602 Club ; ; Alice Springs ; Ariane 1 ; ; ; auxiliary power ; beer ; blinds ; bourbon ; Bread Salad ; Burger and Fries ; Caroline ; Chester ; consolation prize ; court martial ; Cyrus ; dark matter nebula ; Duvall ; EPS grid ; escape pod ; Fontana : Gardner ; ; International Space Station ; Italy ; Jefferies ; Jupiter ; ; kilometer ; logic ; Luna ; Mount McKinley ; midnight oil ; mushroom s ; namesake ; New Berlin ; NX - Control ; NX Program ; NX - Alpha ; NX - Beta ; NX - Delta ; ; paragraph ; pretzel ; ; Potato Gratin ; quantum field ; record book ; rib ; Robinson Nebula ; Rosalie ; Rosti a la 602 ; Sandwich de Jour ; San Francisco ; ; Starfleet Mission Control ; Starfleet Museum ; Steamed Veggies ; ; ; Tycho Base ; Vulcan ; Vulcan Advisory Council ; Vulcan database ; Vulcan Science Directorate ; warp 2 barrier ; warp barrier ; warp drive ; warp ship ; Zefram Cochrane Space Flight Center