Launch bay A launch bay is a location from which vehicles , be they spaceborne or otherwise , are dispatched . On a starship , a launch bay is the area from which shuttlecraft and other small craft may be launched , and where they are docked when not in use . The term was in common use in the 22nd century but by the 23rd century , the term shuttlebay was more common . Sometime before late 1996 , Henry Starling constructed a launch bay within the uppermost floors of Chronowerx Industries ' headquarters . This launch bay housed the Federation timeship " Aeon " , which Starling had appropriated in the year 1967 . ( ) In the of starship , the launch bay opened from the ventral hull and was capable of holding two s . These shuttlepods both entered and exited through two sliding doors , which were operated from a control station on the upper gantry level ; the launch bay was incapable of maintaining atmospheric pressure during launch , requiring repressurization after every launch . The launch bay was equipped with a telescoping arm to guide craft through the bay doors . The ship ' s grappler was also housed on the ceiling of this bay . ( ) The " Enterprise " NX - 01 had at least two launch bays . Due to their compact size , the also utilized a launch bay , instead of the larger shuttlebays used on other Starfleet ships of the late 24th century . The ' s launch bay was used by Type 18 shuttlepod s and Type - 10 shuttlepod s , such as the " Chaffee " . ( ) Dominion Headquarters on Cardassia Prime had at least three launch bays . A Cardassian patrol ship was sitting on launch bay 3 - A in 2375 . Damar told Worf and Ezri Dax of the launch bay ' s location , so they could escape execution by the Dominion . ( ) Background information . " Defiant " - class . The set of the " Defiant " launch bay was built in its entirety . Foundation Imaging employee Koji Kuramura additionally built a CGI version of the " Defiant " launch bay , for . Even though Foundation did not work on many DS9 episodes , production illustrator Doug Drexler provided Kuramura with detailed drawings of the whole set , on which the latter production staffer based the CGI representation . Recalled Kuramura , " " The only thing was , I could not quite figure out where to put the hanger doors . I had to do it so it didn ' t change the exterior of the " Defiant " model . Other than that it was a fun model to build . " " When Gary Hutzel asked Doug Drexler to design a large shuttlepod which was to eventually become the " Chaffee " - type shuttlepod for the " Defiant " , Drexler was perplexed by where the craft could possibly launch from , having newly completed the diagrams of the " Defiant " for the " " . He recounted , " " Gary ! I blurted like a little kid who didn ' t wanna . Where ? Where is it supposed to launch from ! It ' s impossible ! There is no place ! And to prove it I unfurled the newly minted diagrams on top of the lightbox . See ? I ' ve worked out every nook ! There is absolutely no place . . . no place . . . um . . . hey . . . it could go right here ! I point to the circular ring on the bottom of the ship . Right here ! Some modest adjusting and . . . it . . . could . . . work ! There was another flash of light and a roiling of thunder and he was gone ! His disembodied voice reverberated over me . . . Today . . . today . . . today . . . " " Yet , Drexler was able to produce a concept sketch , rendered in , that was sent to Kuramura . The renewed shuttlebay was justified by Drexler in the technical manual ( p . 138 ) by stating , " " The shuttlecraft bay has been built into Decks 3 and 4 , immediately below the " Defiant " bridge , in a reserved volume originally designed for future computer and weapons systems . " " NX - class . The NX - class launch bay was designed by John Eaves , a task that was assigned to him by Production Designer Herman Zimmerman and overseen by Executive Producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga . " " There was no trouble getting that one through , " " Eaves said about the design . " " The only changes we had to make were to do with the scale . It sized down considerably every time we drew it , but the basic elements remained the same . We had some elements from the engine room – we really liked the walls and the pipes . It was just the framework which really sold the whole set . They liked the idea of being able to walk around and look into the shuttles from the second floor , as opposed to being next to them on the floor . " " ( ) Another facet of the launch bay design that evolved was the idea of the horizontal doors built into the floor of the set rather than the doors being vertical , at the aft of the ship . Eaves explained , " " Mike Okuda pushed [ that ] idea [ . . . ] He did a little computer sketch , and Mr . Berman really liked it . I did renderings on different doors . In the beginning it was going to be like a clamshell where it split in the middle and either of the shuttles could drop out . Finally , Doug [ Drexler ] redesigned the floor so now independent doors open under each shuttle . " " ( ) Though the NX - class launch bay was built as a full - scale set for " " , the launching sequences of the shuttlepods had to be executed in CGI . The CG version of the launch bay aboard the NX - 01 was built by Koji Kuramura , who remembered , " " The building of the CG Set of " Enterprise " s Launch bay was never in the budget . I just thought it should be built , because I knew it would get used . Dougy helped me out by getting me a bunch of photographs and a tour of the set , so that I could build it for the Series premiere episode [ namely , ] [ . . . ] I built everything . From Ceiling to Floor , almost every nut and bolt . Went a little crazy . " " The NX - class launch bay sets were built on Paramount Stage 18 .