Inspection pod An inspection pod was a type of auxiliary craft used by Starfleet in the 22nd century . History . Several inspection pods were used at Earth ' s orbiting spacedocks in the 2150s , attached to Shipyard Ops . One pod , " Orbital 6 " , was used to inspect the outer hull of the starship shortly before its launch in 2151 . ( , ) " Enterprise " was equipped with at least one inspection pod , stored in a cargo bay , during the first couple of years the ship was in service . ( ) Technical information . The design for the inspection pods harkened back to the Mercury capsule s of the 20th century , with their conical exteriors . The pods had a small , raised pair of lights mounted high on the outer hull and also had a black , wedge - shaped component at the front and a circular docking port at the rear . Sporting five windows , with none of them facing directly forward , pods nonetheless had a commanding view looking " up , " in relation to the interior seating . The ceiling was dominated by a large window with the other four , smaller windows set forward and lower in comparison . The interior also included a helm that featured a manual steering column for piloting the craft and communications equipment capable of sending and receiving instant audio transmissions . The inspection pods were relatively small vessels , with only two seats in each pod ' s cockpit . Each of the seats had a pair of seatbelt s and two tanks located behind the seat back . ( , " et al . " ) Appendices . Appearances . In addition to spacedock - touring close - up scenes featuring the inspection pods in " Broken Bow " and " The Expanse " , other inspection pods also distantly appear in long shots of the Earth spacedocks in not only those episodes but also in the season 4 installments " Home , " Borderland " and " Affliction " . Background information . Scripted depictions . In the final draft script for " " pilot episode as well as in the final draft script for , this type of craft was commonly referred to as an " orbital inspection pod " ( although its canon ical designation as simply an " inspection pod " is established in both the first season finale and the season 2 episode ) . The same " Broken Bow " script referred twice to the pod as " tiny " and characterized it as cramped to the point of seeming claustrophobic . The only other details about the craft ' s design in the same script were that the pod was to have a large " ceiling portal " and controls for piloting the craft , including a " control throttle . " In the final draft script of " Dead Stop " , the inspection pod in that episode was to be shown drop - launching from " Enterprise " , though the episode itself doesn ' t show this happening , instead implying the vehicle ' s launch has already taken place . Similarly , an inspection pod was the setting of a scene in the final draft script of that is not in the final edit of that episode ; the scripted version of the scene referred once to the craft as a " shuttle " . Concept art . It was the responsibility of the art department to begin to visualize the inspection pod . According to senior illustrator John Eaves , the art department ' s task of designing the craft was " to not only give [ the " Enterprise " NX - 01 ] some scale but to show her off to the audience . " Eaves started the design work with an initial sketch . He explained , " " The first pass of the pod was a little boxy unit that had about 10 minutes worth of time put into it . " " Although the script for " Broken Bow " had initially requested that the cramped inspection pod be a generically barrel - like craft , the art department devised a more specific concept for the inspection pod , which was embraced by the producers ; the design staff decided to make the inspection pod ' s cockpit a modification of the " Phoenix " s cockpit , from . ( ) Remembered John Eaves , " " Herman [ Zimmerman , production designer ] walked by and said that we were going to reuse the Phoenix Capsule from STFC so we can start redesigning around that nose cone shape . " " Eaves also recalled , " " We always knew we were going to reuse the " Phoenix " capsule for the inspection pod . " " ( ) As suggested by Eaves , this decision had ramifications for the entirety of the inspection pod ' s appearance . " " This would dictate the configuration of the exterior . Form follows function , " " noted production illustrator Doug Drexler . Some significant alterations were made to facilitate the reuse . Explained Eaves , " " We changed the windows ; the " Phoenix " had a little round window on its side , so we got rid of that and put a third window on top . And we changed the seating inside – cut it down to two seats . " " ( ) Another addition to the inspection pod was its docking ring , which was added by scenic art supervisor and technical consultant Michael Okuda . John Eaves remembered , " " Mike Okuda put the door from the international space station on it . That technology might just be on the edge of retiring at that point . " " ( ) Okuda ' s contribution to the inspection pod was visualized in diagrams dated , when the series of " Enterprise " was yet to be named . Combining the real - world precedent from the International Space Station with his own imagination , Okuda not only designed the docking ring but also planned , in minute detail , how the coupling system would function . In Eaves ' opinion , Okuda ' s docking and hatch designs were " very nice " and borrowed from " the best of NASA . " John Eaves meanwhile continued designing the rest of the craft ' s exterior . Once he began taking the shape of the " Phoenix " s cockpit into account , he initially drew the inspection pod as heavier than it ultimately appeared , with some dazzlingly bright lights similar to the headlights on 4x4 off - road vehicles . Eaves said of the craft , " " [ It had ] a lot of 4X4 accessories to give it a more rugged , industrial look [ . . . ] The producers felt that the big off road lights were a bit much so we pulled them back to a bare minimum as well as the exterior detail . " " Eaves was " in love " with the brilliantly strong flashlights and " was sad to see them go . " He finally submitted a concept sketch of the pod to Herman Zimmerman . Usage of set and CGI . The set for the inspection pod cockpit was constructed on Paramount Stage 8 , between the set for " Enterprise " s engineering and the set for the starship ' s launch bay . The interior of the cockpit included a reuse of an " Overthruster " prop from the film . The seats for the craft ' s pilot and co - pilot were pieced together from aviation surplus . Once the production crew finished filming the interior sets for the pod ' s appearance in " Broken Bow " , the process of rendering the craft , digitally , was about to begin . Herman Zimmerman handed John Eaves ' concept sketch to Doug Drexler . Remembered Drexler , " " Now it was my turn to build the CG version of the vehicle . One thing that was different about this ship , was that its design featured great big inspection windows . None of the standard blacked out ports . This time around the audience would be able to see straight in , so I had to build the model complete , inside and out [ . . . ] So John [ Eaves ] and I went down to the stage and we took a slew of reference shots . " " ( The aforementioned photographs can be viewed . ) Visualizing the craft with the CGI software package Lightwave gave the art department a good idea of what the inspection pod would look like on screen . " " This was the first time that the art department had 3D modeling , and rendering capabilities , " " Doug Drexler stated . " " I could build the basic design for Herman , and he could now see it in three dimensional space , under any lighting conditions , and any camera lens . What an incredible advantage ! " " Drexler reconstructed the entire craft in CGI . He reflected , " " I spent about 5 days on it . Did I think I went too far ? No . . . I knew we ' d be using it again , and I knew that whenever we saw it , we would be close . The interior is complete down to the carpet . It isn ' t a polygon heavy model either . " " Regarding the seating for the pilot and co - pilot , Drexler noted , " " I built it in CG down to the screws . " " The digital render of the pod did not incorporate mechanical arms . " " We never got around to developing waldos and stuff , " " remarked Drexler . For " Broken Bow " , visual effects company Eden FX contributed to the digital render by building CG versions of Archer and Tucker to pilot the craft . After the CG model of the pod was built , Drexler passed it on to Foundation Imaging , who created the animated sequence of " Broken Bow " in which it appears . ( ) The apparently tiny inspection pods that appear in long shots of Earth spacedocks were also created with CGI . In one such case , a wireframe render of an inspection pod near the docked ( in a shot created for the installment ) was colored entirely pink . ( " Visual Effects Magic " , ENT Season 4 DVD special features ) Another CG depiction of an inspection pod can be found in the ENT Season 1 DVD , as part of a computer - animated sequence that introduces the main menu for each disc . Similarities to other craft . John Eaves is of the opinion that the inspection pod has similarities to some spacecraft from ; he believes the pod bears a likeness to the later - period cargo management unit s , observing that they both were primarily for service , and likened the rear docking ring of the inspection pod to that of the travel pod from " The Motion Picture " . ( ) In fact , Doug Drexler originally meant to pay homage to the travel pod by numbering the inspection pod in " Broken Bow " 05 , but the craft ' s number was ultimately changed to 6 , matching a reference ( in both the episode ' s script and on - screen dialogue ) to the craft as " Orbital 6 . " Drexler considered building the inspection pod to have been " a special treat " precisely because he was a big fan of the travel pod . ( ) The gray of the inspection pod ' s exterior is similar but different to the gray on the hull of the . Doug Drexler commented , " " The gray on the pod is not a match for the NX . It is actually brighter . " " The set for the interior of the inspection pod was reused as the Vissian stratopod ' s innards in . Speculations . Doug Drexler , who likened the inspection pod to a " space jeep " , pointed out , " " The capsule configuration suggests that these jeeps were launched into orbit on the top of atlas - like missiles . " " Not only would this way of shuttling the pods into orbit be an inexpensive method but Drexler also believes that , in particular , the pod ' s " aerodynamic nose cone shape " indicated the probability of this one - way travel method being used . It is also Drexler ' s opinion that the missiles would commonly be recovered and reused . He further speculated about the inspection pods , " " Once [ in orbit ] they were taken to an orbital ' motorpool ' where they were outfitted for whatever duty they were most needed for [ . . . ] The NX was equipped with two jeeps for handling cargo , repairs and routine maintenance . " " John Eaves intended for the black , wedge - shaped component at the front of the inspection pod to be a bumper , though this was never firmly established on - screen .