See Also: 'First Flight' Episode Guide

Enterprise will reportedly take a look at the birth of Starfleet's long-distance space programme in its fiftieth episode, entitled "First Flight".

Featuring flashbacks set several years before "Broken Bow", sources told TrekToday the episode will revolve around the testing of the Warp 5 engine, which was developed by Captain Jonathan Archer's father, Henry Archer. However, the original test in space failed, destroying the ship, although the pilot managed to survive. Because of this, the Vulcans accuse Starfleet of moving too fast with their tests, and advise them to be more cautious, even going so far as telling Starfleet that their engine design is unstable.

In addition to Jonathan Archer, one of the Starfleet officers on the project is a young Lieutenant Charles Tucker, who is working on Captain Jefferies's Engineering team, no doubt a nod to Original Series art director Matt Jefferies. After the failure of the first test, it is Tucker who helps Archer and another officer, Robinson, take the NX-Beta on a test flight — without approval from Starfleet. However, as soon as Archer launches the NX-Beta out of the hanger, a flight controller informs Admiral Forrest that the ship has been detected in orbit...

The twenty-fourth season two episode to be filmed, "First Flight" will be directed by Star Trek: The Next Generation's LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge). Burton previously had a hand in another Trek milestone, helming Star Trek: Voyager's one hundredth episode, "Timeless", which also dealt with a key test flight.

The above plot information is not a full synopsis of the episode, which has not yet been officially confirmed by Paramount Pictures. Until these plot details are confirmed, you should treat this information as you would any other rumour.

"First Flight" will air in May, 2003.

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