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starship (a fictional type of spacecraft) in the fictional Star Trek universe, a science-fiction setting.
Top Row (Left-To-Right): NCC-1701-C, NX-01, NCC-1701, NCC-1701-E
Bottom Row (Left-To-Right): NCC-1701-D, NCC-1701-B, NCC-1701-A
The USS Enterprise was once referred to as the "United Space Ship Enterprise", but ever since has always been "United Star Ship". Since Starfleet is unrelated to the United States armed forces, any similarity between this phrase and the American warship prefix "United States Ship" is coincidental.
In honor of Star Trek, a real space shuttle was also named Enterprise by NASA.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
Not only the name, but also the associated hull number ("NCC-1701," with an appended serial letter after the first one; "NX-01" for the first ship with the name, in the Star Trek: Enterprise series—X presumably standing for experimental) has been bestowed upon different fictional ships at different times:
The Starship Enterprises are as follows
The existence of an Enterprise-J indicates the existence of an Enterprise-F, -G, -H, and -I.