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From what we see in Star Trek, first contacts are very important dealings. So, my question is which ship 1 has made the most number of first contacts?

Allow me to define 'first contacts'. For the Enterprise NX-01, I define a first contact as a meeting with an alien species that humans had not previously made official contact with (for example, the meeting with the Klingons in the second episode would count as a first contact). For the Enterprise 1701 and 1701-D, and Voyager, these must be species that the Federation has not yet encountered.

1: By ship, I'm restricting it to the Enterprises NX-01, NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-D and Voyager, as they're likely to have made the most on-screen.

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  • 2
    My hunch is either Voyager or the original Enterprise. Commented May 6, 2016 at 3:37
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    Restriction futile. Borg Cube is superior.
    – user31178
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 4:11
  • I'm sure I've read a question like this before but I can't find s the dupe...
    – Liath
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 8:34
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    You don't want to count DS9 or the Defiant, with all their Gamma Quadrant first contacts?
    – Paul L
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 12:17
  • @OftenRight: I need some clarification, you define 'first contact' as a meeting with an alien culture for the Enterprise NX-01 and for the other ships a species not yet encountered. The Neural Parasites and the Space Amoeba encountered in TOS would not be an alien culture but would be a new species not yet encountered for example. I think you are asking for two different things
    – sfhq_sf
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 22:37

2 Answers 2

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According to the list maintained at Memory Alpha, the stats are as follows:

  • NX-01: 27
  • 1701: 50 (49 with Kirk's crew, 1 with Pike's)
  • 1701-D: 41
  • DS9 / Defiant: 13
  • Voyager: 107

Please note that I counted any first contacts that involve the main cast of the relevant series, whether it took place on that series's ship or not. (For example, Riker meeting the young alien who made him think he'd had 30 years worth of amnesia. It happened on a planet, not on the 1701-D, but I counted it)

Also, these numbers are assuming I counted correctly while scrolling.

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  • All those statistics other than DS9 would be valid for the purposes of this question. Good find! Commented May 6, 2016 at 12:39
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    Consider it bonus information. Plus it doesn't impact the actual answer, as "the most" is still clearly Voyager by a long shot.
    – Paul L
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 12:40
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    Technicality: this only counts first contacts shown or reported on the show.
    – OrangeDog
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 17:25
  • I hardly think this is a fair comparison. Voyager had many more episodes :-)
    – Valorum
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 17:26
  • @OrangeDog How else would we count them?
    – Xantec
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 17:40
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According to the Season 7 episode VOY: Friendship One James Kirk, and by extension, the NCC-1701 Enterprise still remains the undisputed champion of first contacts, with Janeway coming in second aboard the Voyager.

HENDRICKS [on screen]: The Voth, the Kobali, the Vaadwaur. You've made first contact with more species than any captain since James Kirk.

JANEWAY: It helps being the only Starfleet ship within thirty thousand light years.

HENDRICKS [on screen]: You are being too humble. From the first time you spoke up in my classroom I knew you'd go far.

It seems unlikely the she surpassed his record in the final few episodes

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    Technicalities: this confirms the captain, not the ship. It also doesn't preclude someone earlier (e.g. Archer) scoring higher than Janeway but lower than Kirk.
    – OrangeDog
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 17:21
  • @OrangeDog - True, but in his latter years, Kirk was chained to a desk. It hardly seems likely that he was doing much first-contacting from Starfleet HQ.
    – Valorum
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 17:26
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    True, but equally he's been on a lot more ships than just the original NCC-1701, even if a lot of them did explode shortly after.
    – OrangeDog
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 17:31
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    It is possible the Hendricks was just talking up Janeway by comparing her to a famous captain who had a lot of first contacts. An exo-zoologist on Europa might get to categorize a lot of new life forms, and someone might compare them to Louis and Clark without knowing exactly how many species of fauna they catalogued.
    – Xantec
    Commented May 6, 2016 at 17:50
  • @OftenRight: I dare say this answer is superior to the currently accepted answer. The currently accepted one is only counting whatever was shown (or mentioned) in the shows/movies, whereas this is a canon statement that Kirk has more than Janeway. You should accept this one. You can nitpick about captain vs ship etc, but it's pretty clear this statement is 98% likely to mean NCC-1701/1701A have more contacts than Voyager. Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 17:14

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