Which starships can land?

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

I was thinking. Which starship classes can land as far as Starfleet design goes? Obviously shuttles and runabouts can land, but what about the big ships? So far, these are Starfleet designs that I think can land...

 

Intrepid-class - We saw Voyager land several times, so this is a given.

Galaxy-class saucer module - From GENERATIONS, it seems that a saucer can only land once, but due to structural damage, would no longer be space worthy.

Nova-class - This ship is small and has a lot in common with the Intrepid-class as well as I've seen "landing strut" hatches on the bottom of the ship in profile pictures. It's my assumption that this ship can land.

Defiant-class - I've seen deck charts of the Defiant that show landing struts on deck 4.

Prometheus-class - Like the Intrepid and Nova-class, this ship seems to be of the right size and design for a planetary landing.

 

It seems Starfleet only designs smaller ships to be capable of landing along with the saucer section of the larger ships.

 

What other ship designs do you think can land?

[Captain Bolivar 0]

Yes I was thinking about this the other day. Someone made a comment about how ships do not need to be aerodynamic in space becuase there is no atmosphere. This got me to thinking that they would need to be aerodynamic when landing on taking off from a planet. While I don't know which ships can land in specific, I would suggest by logic that the ships with good aerodynamics are probably designed to land in the same fashion as Voyager.

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

Shuttles and Runabouts Can Land

[cptwright 1]

maybe im wrong here, but didnt the saucer section CRASH, NOT LAND, in generations? which would be why its not space worthy after such a crash.

[Data 0]

Voyager was able to land on planets. It did several times in fact.

[xenexian 2]

A starfleet vessel doesn't necessarily have to be aerodynamic in structure to enter an atmosphere to fly or land. The shields of the ship can be modified to create an aerodynamic shape around the ship to allow it to fly and be controlled when it is used outside of it's design specifications. Otherwise all Starfleet vessels would have the flying charecteristics of a rock.

[Yillara Skye 1]

Galaxy-class saucer module - From GENERATIONS, it seems that a saucer can only land once, but due to structural damage, would no longer be space worthy.

Uhh, last time I thought about that...it crashed, it didnt land. And of course it would not be space worthy.

 

Shuttlecraft, runabouts can land, so can the Voyager(from what I have seen and read.)

[bevfanK 0]

maybe im wrong here, but didnt the saucer section CRASH, NOT LAND, in generations? which would be why its not space worthy after such a crash.

I saw it as a crash-landing...

[Indy 8]

In the Star Trek Next Generation Technical Manual, it goes into a detailed explanation of how a Galaxy Class - Enterprise D - saucer section makes an emergency planetary landing as a last alternative to save the ship. It also explains that due to damage to the ship's structural integrity and due to the ship's size and weight, the saucer would be unable to leave the planet's gravity well much less become space worthy again. The reason why the Enterprise D crash landed was because they were in a massive battle with the Klingons and the star drive section exploding by a warp core breach flinging the saucer out of orbit like a frisbee...gee, I wonder why it crashed.

 

"Oh, *poopie*!"

Data - Star Trek Generations

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

Nice post Indy, and I loved your qoute! :blink: