Shuttlepod 2
Shuttlepod 2 was a shuttlepod used by the crew of the NX class starship Enterprise in the mid-22nd century. The pod was one of two similar shuttlecraft aboard Enterprise, the other being Shuttlepod 1.
In 2151, a team of Starfleet officers from Enterprise traveled to Archer IV, a planet in the Archer system, aboard Shuttlepod 1. While staying on the planet overnight, the officers sought shelter from a storm in a cave. In an attempt to retrieve his officers, Captain Jonathan Archer accompanied Lieutenant Malcolm Reed down to the planet in Shuttlepod 2. While the craft traveled through the planet's atmosphere, Reed detected the officers below. Archer tried to pilot the shuttlepod to a clearing one hundred meters from the cave entrance but the storm had become extremely violent. Since there was intense wind shear near the planet's surface, Archer ordered Lieutenant Reed to activate Shuttlepod 2's auxiliary landing thrusters. Upon descent, Archer attempted to compensate for the wind by changing the shuttlecraft's vector. However, the vehicle was blown starboard and it grazed against a rock face. Consequently, the shuttlepod's fourth thruster was damaged and the craft began to leak plasma coolant. Although Archer tried to land again, Reed advised him that the craft would not be able to do so with a missing thruster. Reluctantly, the captain acknowledged the armory officer's advice and headed back to Enterprise, explaining the situation to the officers on the surface. The next morning, the storm had dissipated and Shuttlepod 2 made a successful descent to the planet's surface. The craft safely returned the officers to Enterprise. (ENT: "Strange New World")
In early 2152, Commander Charles Tucker piloted Shuttlepod 2 from the starship to Tandar Prime, where Archer and Ensign Travis Mayweather had been imprisoned in Detention Complex 26. Tandarans used the facility to detain Suliban living in the Tandar sector. However, the Suliban had been wrongly imprisoned for supposedly being members of the Suliban Cabal. In an ultimately successful attempt to free Archer, Mayweather and the innocent Suliban, Commander Tucker used Shuttlepod 2's phase cannons to destroy guard towers surrounding the facility. (ENT: "Detained")
In March 2153, three science teams from Enterprise studied an uninhabited planet. The teams returned to Enterprise aboard Shuttlepod 2. The last science team to return to Enterprise consisted of Subcommander T'Pol and Doctor Phlox. Upon return to the starship, Phlox detected a highly unusual microbe that he and T'Pol had carried from the planet. (ENT: "Bounty")
- Although Phlox was successful in creating a serum to eliminate the microbe from their bodies, it is unknown whether Shuttlepod 2 was contaminated and, if so, whether the craft was disinfected.
Notable Appearances
- ENT:
- "Strange New World" (Season 1)
- "Detained"
- "Desert Crossing"
- "Two Days and Two Nights"
- "Shockwave, Part II" (Season 2)
- "The Breach"
- "Bounty"
- "The Xindi" (Season 3)
- "Impulse"
- "Similitude"
- "Chosen Realm"
- "Hatchery"
- "Countdown" (seen as Shuttlepod 1 in the previous episode, "The Council".)
- "These Are the Voyages..." (Season 4)