Horizon ( starship ) The Horizon was an early Federation starship that was in service during the mid - 22nd century . Around 2168 , the " Horizon " discovered the planet Sigma Iotia II , located on the outer reaches of the galaxy . While there , the crew of the " Horizon " made first contact with the planets inhabitants , the Iotian s ; a civilization that was in the beginning stages of industrialization . It was also reported that the Iotians were an extremely intelligent and somewhat imitative species . The " Horizon " s ship - to - shore transport did not include transporter s , but rather required planetary landing in some form . The " Horizon " s contact came before the non - interference directive went into effect , and the crew inadvertently interfered with the normal evolution of the planet . The source of cultural contamination was a number of textbook s on how to make radio set s and the like . The most damning was a text published in 1992 , called " Chicago Mobs of the Twenties " . This text would serve as the " Bible " of the Iotian culture for the decades to come , developing a society of " cold - blooded killer s " . The " Horizon " was only equipped with conventional radio , and as such it predated subspace communication s . It was lost shortly after leaving Sigma Iotia II . The Federation finally received her radio reports a century later , in early 2268 . A month later , the was dispatched to investigate the " Horizon " s reports , only to discover the break down of Iotian society that had occurred as a result of the " Horizon " s influence . Because the breakdown of Iotian society had been caused by a member of the Federation , the crew of the " Enterprise " was obligated to correct the " Horizon " s mistake . ( ) Appendices . Background information . According to the the ship , designated as the , was of the , and had the registries NCC - 173 ( 1st ed . , pp . 129 - 130 ) and NCC - 176 ( 1st ed . , p . 320 ; studio model ) . Indeed , an ad hoc model , bearing the name of the and registry of the " Horizon " ( to represent both ships in these publications ) , was originally created by Greg Jein for the , before eventually creating a second model solely dedicated to the " Horizon " . The writers added that " " the class and registry designations of the " Horizon " are conjectural , but a desktop model bearing that name and number has been seen as set decoration on . " " ( " Star Trek Encyclopedia " , 1st ed . , pp . 129 - 130 ) Despite the effort of fabricating this background information for a " Daedalus " - class " Horizon " , at no time was it ever successfully tied back to the " Horizon " mentioned in " A Piece of the Action " , as originally intended . The production staff later made a tongue - in - cheek reference suggesting that the may be connected to this " Horizon " . According to the , the authors write in the notes to the entry " Horizon , E . C . S . " , " " The " E . C . S . Horizon " was probably not the same ship that made contact with the Ionians , as established in " A Piece of the Action " ( TOS ) , if only because it was a cargo ship and did not seem to operate on the frontier . Nevertheless , based on the information in that episode and in " Horizon " , the cargo ship may well have been operating at the same time ( 2168 ) for it to have been the ship that left The Book on Sigma Iotia II . In any case , the " Star Trek : Enterprise " art department made a replica of The Book ( actually two replicas , one of which got the title wrong ! ) , and placed them onto book shelves in Mayweather ' s quarters . " " Apocrypha . According to the Pocket ENT novel " " , the " Horizon " " was " indeed the freighter mentioned throughout and seen in the episode . The " Horizon " made first contact with Sigma Iotia II in the 2150s . The fate of the " Horizon " was unclear ; by the end of the book it was deemed missing and presumed destroyed by Romulan action .