Retracted (top left) and deployed (right) landing gear of the USS Enterprise-A.
Landing gear, also known as landing struts or landing legs, was a component of an air or spacecraft that facilitated a controlled contact with a planetary surface, space station docking bay, or other firm surface.
When used by larger vehicles such as starships, the physical landing gear was sometimes supplemented with antigravs, thrusters, structural integrity fields and inertial dampeners. (VOY episode: "The 37's"; DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual)
Starfleet use[]
The Intrepid-class USS Voyager with deployed landing gear.
Among Federation Starfleet vehicles with landing gear were:
- Archer-class (Seekers novel: Long Shot)
- Argo-type shuttlecraft (TNG movie: Star Trek Nemesis)
- Colony support vessels such as the USS Narbonne. (DSC novel: Drastic Measures)
- Constitution-class (refit) - For use by the primary hull only after emergency saucer separation. (TOS reference: Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise)
- Defiant-class (DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual; ST - Tales of the Dominion War short story: "Safe Harbors")
- Intrepid-class (VOY episodes: "The 37's", "Basics", "Demon", "Dragon's Teeth", "Nightingale")
- Nova-class (ST reference: Starship Spotter)
- Vesta-class (VOY novel: Children of the Storm)
Klingon Defense Force use[]
The HMS Bounty landing on Vulcan with its landing gear deployed.
The Klingon Defense Force B'rel-class bird of prey had two sets of landing gear, one on either side where the wings joined the main hull. (TOS movies: The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home)
External links[]
- Landing gear article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Landing gear article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.