Orbital 1 capsule with the second stage still attached
Orbital 1 was a space capsule launched by the Central Protectorate on Kelemane's planet. It was launched on top of a three-stage rocket, and carried two astronauts, the pilot, Gotana-Retz, and the commander, Terrina.
Its mission was to gather information about the ancient Sky Ship, which was actually the USS Voyager trapped in orbit around the planet. Because of a space-time displacement, a day would pass on the surface for around one second of normal time observed on Voyager.
Shortly after firing the second stage, the capsule lost contact with Launch Control, but Terrina made the decision to continue the mission as planned. They approached Voyager, but their scans could not penetrate the hull. Terrina decided to attempt to board the ship.
Orbital 1 returning to Kelemane's planet
Orbital 1 docked with Voyager, but the two astronauts were not fully integrated into the timeframe on the Federation vessel, and observed what appeared to be people frozen in time. Soon the change started to affect them and they began suffering disorientation and collapsed. The shock to Terrina's system resulted in her death, but Gotana-Retz survived the transition and was able to integrate into Voyager's time frame and interact with its crew.
A short time later on Voyager, yet many years on the surface, the planet began to launch antimatter torpedoes at the ship. Gotana-Retz returned to the surface in Orbital 1, splash-landing in Central Lake, to try to convince them to stop. He was successful, and with the information brought back to the surface, the scientists there were able to develop a technology that allowed them to help Voyager escape the planet's influence. (VOY: "Blink of an Eye")
Background information[]
The "Alien orbital booster & spacecraft" was designed by Rick Sternbach in October 1999. His designs were generally inspired by the Russian space program. The studio model was built by Eddie Robison of Digital Muse. The team was so excited about the model that they "were thinking we could do the launch, then we could do like Apollo 13, but that's not what the story's about!" (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 19, p. 83)