First contact

first contact is a term which is used by Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets and is literally when humans make initial contact with an alien race.

Since first contact was made with Vulcans in 2063, humans have made first contact with thousands of alien races.

In the twenty-third and twenty-fourth centuries, first contact with alien races is heavily governed by the Prime Directive. Federation citizens are forbidden to knowingly make contact with an alien race who has not yet developed warp drive or any advanced technologies.

Races who are on the brink of developing these technologies, are monitored by Federation specialists who monitor them from duck blind posts or are surgically altered to infiltrate the local population.