| abstract
| - A docking port, or docking hatch, was located on the hull of a spacecraft and allowed the crew access between their ship and another vessel or space station. The first docking hatches on Earth ships were used in the Apollo program spacecraft. A schematic of the Apollo Lunar Module depicting the location of the docking hatch was stored in the USS Enterprise's library computer database. This database was accessed by the Talosians in 2254. (TOS: "The Cage" , remastered) Decades later, ships of the DY-100 class were built with at least one docking hatch. This hatch was located on the ship's starboard side. (TOS: "Space Seed" , remastered) The docking ports on board an NX-class starship were located on E deck. In January 2152, a symbiotic lifeform used a docking port to gain access to the Starfleet vessel Enterprise. (ENT: "Vox Sola") The refit Constitution-class starship Enterprise featured a number of docking ports. One was on the portside of the saucer section, and connected the ship to the drydock during the refit. In the 2270s, travel pod carrying Admiral James T. Kirk and Commander Montgomery Scott docked with the ship at a port on the engineering hull which connected directly to the cargo bay, following a long exterior tour of the vessel. Later, the Vulcan shuttle Surak docked at a port directly aft of the bridge to deliver Spock to the Enterprise. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) There were also docking ports which led to the torpedo bay. In 2285, a travel pod connected here to offload Admiral Kirk's inspection crew before the Enterprise departed on a training cruise. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) On Galaxy-class ships like the USS Enterprise-D, docking ports were located on Deck 25 on either side of the forward torpedo launcher in the stardrive section. The Enterprise docked at Starbase 74 (TNG: "11001001" ) and Starbase 133 (TNG: "Remember Me" ) via these ports. The Enterprise also docked at Deep Space 9 in this manner (TNG: "Birthright, Part I" ; DS9: "Emissary"), as did the USS Odyssey. (DS9: "The Jem'Hadar") Another Galaxy class starship, the USS Venture, had a docking port on the extreme port tip of its saucer section and connected to Deep Space 9 at this location. (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior", "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", "Sacrifice of Angels") The Intrepid-class USS Voyager had three docking ports on the rim of its primary hull, which it used to dock at DS9 (VOY: "Caretaker"), a Varro generational ship (VOY: "The Disease"), and a Markonian outpost. (VOY: "Survival Instinct") At least one of these ports connected directly to Cargo Bay 2 and could be used to decompress the bay. In 2374, Commander Chakotay decompressed the cargo bay to eliminate the Borg drones occupying the bay during Voyager's uneasy truce with the Borg following the Species 8472 invasion. (VOY: "Scorpion, Part II") The Defiant-class USS Defiant could dock with Deep Space 9 through a port on the nose of the ship, above the main deflector dish. (DS9: "The Search, Part I", "Defiant", "The Dogs of War") Curiously, the docking port is not readily visible on the exterior of the Defiant. Specialized docking ports can also be used to connect auxiliary craft directly to a starship, such as the captain's yacht on Galaxy and Sovereign class ships (Star Trek: Insurrection), the aeroshuttle on the Intrepid class, and the waverider shuttlecraft on the Nova class, all located on the ventral side of their respective saucer sections.
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