Take a trip to see the original U.S.S. Enterprise model from Star Trek

Star Trek is once again sending one of its most important pieces to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Star Trek is a brand that has thrived and survived since the 1960s. In doing so they have created and cultivated many fine practices that have been used and re-used in the world of science fiction over the years. The ability to continually adapt to the changing times has kept the brand relatively fresh over the years.

Yet, before the advent of computer-generated images, special effects were a bit more special. The ability to create the impossible out of the ordinary became the norm for Star Trek. It laid the foundation for how other series and franchises, like Star Wars, would bring their own worlds to life.

Side note, the fact that so much of the original three films were just matte paintings with some images super-imposed on them should really make CGI editors today feel utterly embarrassed.

Yet, Trek didn’t have all the high-tech fancy stuff that today’s Nu Trek has. No, back then, the series quite literally had a model on string and that one little gimmick helped facilitate the imagination of millions.

You can now relieve classic Star Trek thanks to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum

If you have the ability to take a family trip to the National Air and Space Museum sometime in the near future, you’re going to be able to see the original USS Enterprise from the first Star Trek series. According to Collider, it will be on display in the museum starting Oct. 14.

The ship was on display from 1974 to 2019, but renovations in October of that year forced the museum to remove the ship. In real life, the ship would be over 950 feet long, 400 feet wide, and 238 tall; accommodating 11 decks.

In reality, it’s about 11 feet long and maybe three feet tall. It’d probably accommodate about 11 gerbils.

So not nearly as impressive, but still entirely as cool.

So be sure to see the Enterprise return to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum as the ship returns almost three years from the day that it left.