The Little Bangs List

The following is a list of the shuttles we've seen lost, or probably lost, in Star Trek. This list only includes those lost whilst outside their parent craft - when a Starship is destroyed, we make no effort to add all the shuttles contained within it to the list.

Key

Symbol	Meaning
	A shuttle certainly destroyed. This would typically involve either actually seeing the shuttle explode, or hearing dialogue that it has been destroyed.
	A shuttle probably destroyed. This would usually involve a shuttle which crashes or is very badly damaged, and for which there is no reasonable opportunity for the ship to recover or repair it. What constitutes a reasonable opportunity is a judgment call.
	A shuttle probably not destroyed. This would usually involve a shuttle which crashes or is damaged, but for which there is a reasonable opportunity for the ship to recover or repair it. Again, what constitutes a reasonable opportunity is a judgment call. Essentially I assume that any shuttle which could be recovered was recovered.

Incidents

ID	Losses	Type	Description	Episode
62		Type 9	A class 2 shuttle is destroyed by the shockwave of a proto nebula. [1]	Drone
25		Unknown	A Ferengi shuttle explodes after its owners deliberately sabotage it so that the Enterprise will pick them up. [2]	The Perfect Mate
49		Type 6	A shuttle crash lands on the Drayan II moon, killing Ensign Bennett. Lieutenant Tuvok is able to make repairs and get it flying again, so although we never see it take off and return to Voyager, this may well happen. A second shuttle carrying Janeway and Paris lands on the moon without incident. [3]	Innocence
1		Type 0	A shuttle falls into a pit 8 metres deep. We never see it recovered, and doing so would be pretty tough, but since Enterprise only has two shuttles we should assume that this one was recovered. [4]	Terra Nova
17		Type 6	A shuttle is abandoned when Barclay and Geordi are beamed to sickbay. It is not clear if it was recovered or not, though it seems likely that it was since there was plenty of opportunity. [5]	The N'th Degree
48		Type 8	A shuttle is damaged by the Kazon during a mission to recover the stolen transporter. It is later recovered. [6]	Maneuvers
43		Type 8	A shuttle is destroyed when Chakotay escapes from the Kazon ship. [7]	Initiations
42		Unknown	A shuttle used by Chakotay and Tuvok is badly damaged, but apparently survives. [8]	Cathexis
66		Type 9	A shuttle was used as bait for the Borg, and assimilated. [9]	Dark Frontier, Part 2
79		Type 3	A Type 3 shuttle crashlands in the Enterprise hangar bay. The craft is damaged but appears repairable. [10]	Star Trek V : The Final Frontier
34		Danube	Alixus attempted to destroy the Rio Grande by setting it on course for a star. It missed, and was recovered by Kira and Dax on board the Orinoco. [11]	Paradise
31		Unknown	Although not seen on screen Data's shuttle presumably crashes or is otherwise lost, given the condition we see him in at the start. [12]	Thine Own Self
2		Type 0	Archer and T'Pol's shuttle is shot down. We don't know what happens to it - the ship doesn't seem to recover it, but with a friendly government around it's possible I guess. [13]	Shadows of P'Jem
18		Type 15	As Picard leads the Enterprise out of the dark matter nebula, his shuttle is destroyed. He is beamed out just in time. [14]	In Theory
69		Type 9	Chakotay and Seven use a shuttle which crashes onto a planet after encountering a forcefield. The shuttle is not recovered. [15]	Natural Law
60		Unknown	Chakotay's shuttle crashes in a war zone. It is highly unlikely to have been recovered. [16]	Nemesis
54		Type 9	Chakotay's shuttle is destroyed on the planet. Later Chakotay steals a second shuttle, abandoning it near the Borg cube. This is presumably recovered. Neelix also uses a shuttle to travel to the planet; this survives without incident. [17]	Unity
55		Type 9	Chakotay's shuttle is destroyed on the planet. Later Chakotay steals a second shuttle, abandoning it near the Borg cube. This is presumably recovered. Neelix also uses a shuttle to travel to the planet; this survives without incident. [17]	Unity
51		Type 9	Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Torres are in present day Earth when their shuttle crashes in Arizona. It is later repaired. [18]	Future's End, Part 2
47		Unknown	Commander Chakotay takes a shuttle to the surface of the planet due to transporter interference. He later beams back to Voyager. Presumably the shuttle is recovered. [19]	Tattoo
6		Type 1	Commodore Decker stole a shuttlecraft and piloted it into the Doomsday machine, destroying it and killing himself. [20]	The Doomsday Machine
27		Unknown	Data and the Borg steal a shuttlecraft. The Enterprise has plenty of time to recover it, and presumably does so. [21]	Descent, Part 1
12		Type 7	Data and Worf's shuttle is destroyed by the Borg just after they beam out of it. [22]	The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2
13		Unknown	Data steals a shuttle to go and visit Soong. It is presumably returned at the end of the episode. [23]	Brothers
11		Type 15	Data's shuttle is sabotaged and explodes as he returns to the Enterprise. [24]	The Most Toys
50		Unknown	Janeway and Chakotay keep a shuttle when they elect to stay behind on a planet because they are infected with a virus. They beam back to the ship at the end, leaving it behind, but presumably it is recovered before the ship leaves. [25]	Resolutions
46		Type 8	Lieutenant Paris and Neelix crash land on a planet. They are beamed back to Voyager, presumably the shuttle is recovered. [26]	Parturition
32		Danube	NCC 72453 USS Yangtzee Kiang was crashed on a penal colony moon in the Gamma Quadrant. It was not recovered. [27]	Battle Lines
33		Danube	NCC 72454 USS Ganges was destroyed by a T'Lani cruiser in 2370. [28]	Armageddon Game
36		Danube	NCC 72905 USS Orinoco was destroyed in 2372 when a Cardassian terrorist group sabotaged it's warp core. [29]	Our Man Bashir
35		Danube	NCC 72917 USS Mekong was destroyed during the disasterous Romulan / Cardassian attack on the Founder's home world. [30]	The Die is Cast
40		Danube	NCC 73024 USS Shenandoah was abandoned after being attacked by the Jem'Hadar. It was apaprently never recovered. [31]	Valiant
39		Danube	NCC 74602 USS Yukon was destroyed by the Defiant to prevent a Founder from detonating a bomb in the Bajoran sun. [32]	By Inferno's Light
41		Unknown	Near the end of the episode Kim and Paris take a shuttle on board an alien ship; they beam out. The shuttle is apparently not recovered. [33]	Ex Post Facto
20		Unknown	No less than five academy trainers are lost in an attempt to perform the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver. This is a record for any single episode of a Trek series. [34]	The First Duty
21		Unknown	No less than five academy trainers are lost in an attempt to perform the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver. This is a record for any single episode of a Trek series. [34]	The First Duty
22		Unknown	No less than five academy trainers are lost in an attempt to perform the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver. This is a record for any single episode of a Trek series. [34]	The First Duty
23		Unknown	No less than five academy trainers are lost in an attempt to perform the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver. This is a record for any single episode of a Trek series. [34]	The First Duty
24		Unknown	No less than five academy trainers are lost in an attempt to perform the Kolvoord Starburst maneuver. This is a record for any single episode of a Trek series. [34]	The First Duty
74		Type 0	One of the NX-01's shuttles takes fire from some P-51 fighters. The shuttle is damaged, but returns to Enterprise safely and is almost certainly repaired. [35]	Zero Hour
65		Type 6	Paris, Tuvok, and the EMH crash a shuttle onto the accelerated planet. They are recovered via transporter, leaving the craft behind. [36]	Gravity
30		Danube	Picard uses his Runabout to disrupt the energy transfer between the Enterprise-D and the Romulan ship, destroying it. [37]	Timescape
9		Type 7	Pulaski exposes herself to the children aboard a shuttlecraft to prove they are safe; when planning this, she says that if it does not work they can abandon the craft. Since it does not work, we can assume that the shuttle is abandoned or destroyed. [38]	Unnatural Selection
38		Danube	Quark and Odo are on the way to a grand jury hearing when their Runabout crashes. It is not known if the ship is intact enough to recover and repair, but the opportunity to do so certainly exists. [39]	The Ascent
4		Type 0	Reed and Archer leave their shuttlepod on the surface. It almost certainly couldn't be recovered, given the hostile locals. [40]	Desert Crossing
76		Type 0	Reed and Mayweather's shuttle falls into a pit on the surface of the comet. The Vulcans are able to recover it with a tractor beam. [41]	Breaking the Ice
3		Type 0	Reed and Tucker blow their impulse engine up. We don't know if this renders the shuttle unsalvageable, but I wouldn't think it would. [42]	Shuttlepod One
19		Type 15	Riker, Troi and O'Brien are in a shuttle crash at the beginning of the episode. Since there is too much interference to beam the people up without pattern enhancers, the shuttle must have been a permanent loss. [43]	Power Play
61		Unknown	Seven abandoned her shuttle in B'omar territory. Since Voyager was fighting its way through the territory, it was not likely to have had a chance to recover the shuttle. [44]	The Raven
58		Type 9	Shuttle is destroyed when Kes 'evolves' into a non-corporeal lifeform. [45]	The Gift
71		Type 0	Shuttlepod 1 is damaged when Archer and Trip are abducted. Enterprise is seen locating the shuttle at the beginning of the episode, and it seems certain that it could be retrieved and put back into working condition again. [46]	Canamar
70		Type 0	Shuttlepod 1 is shot down by the Andorians. It doesn't seem badly damaged, and there is plenty of opportunity to recover it at the end of the episode. [47]	Cease Fire
28		Unknown	The alien shuttle crashlands with Picard and an ambassador aboard. This turns out to be deliberate, so the shuttle is probably recovered by the aliens at some point. [48]	Liaisons
29		Type 6	The Cardassian takes Ensign Sito on board a Starfleet shuttle when he heads back into Cardassian space. We don't know what happens to it, but it's presumably never seen again. [49]	Lower Decks
77		Delta Flyer	The Delta Flyer crashes on an undeveloped world but is later recovered by Voyager. [50]	Muse
78		Delta Flyer	The Delta Flyer is crash landed within a planet after an encounter with a level seven nutronic front. [51]	Once Upon a Time
68		Delta Flyer	The Delta Flyer is destroyed by the Borg in this episode. [52]	Unimatrix Zero, Part 1
37		Danube	The Jem'Hadar destroy a Runabout in orbit before beaming down to attack Sisko and co. The ship is not named. [53]	The Ship
52		Unknown	The possessed Kes steals a shuttle. She beams down from orbit, leaving the shuttle behind. Presumably it is recovered. [54]	Warlord
57		Type 9	The shuttle Cochrane is piloted though an astral eddy by Paris, and suffers a hull breach. Paris is beamed off by Voyager. The shuttle apparently survives. [55]	Real Life
59		Type 9	The shuttle Cochrane is used to recover Voyager's warp core. It is destroyed by the Cataati. [56]	Day of Honor
7		Type 3	The shuttle Copernicus was taken down to "God's" world by Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Sybok. It was abandoned there after being attacked by God. Though we didn't see it recovered, the Enterprise certainly had the time and ability. [10]	Star Trek V : The Final Frontier
44		Type 8	The shuttle Drake is destroyed by a warp core breach. The Runabout Yellowstone was also destroyed as Kim returned to the correct timeline. [57]	Non Sequitur
45		Yellowstone	The shuttle Drake is destroyed by a warp core breach. The Runabout Yellowstone was also destroyed as Kim returned to the correct timeline. [57]	Non Sequitur
5		Type 1	The shuttle Galileo crashlands on a planet with seven crewmembers aboard. The craft ultimately makes it back into orbit, but falls back into the atmosphere and burns up. All of the crewmembers onboard are beamed up shortly before the shuttle is destroyed [58]	The Galileo Seven
14		Unknown	The shuttle Nenbek crashes on a desert planet. It could have been recovered by the Enterprise-D, but since its owner was dead there is no reason to suppose the ship would bother. [59]	Final Mission
26		Type 6	The shuttle Picard, Ro, Guinan and Keiko are on is destroyed by an energy field at the beginning of the episode. [60]	Rascals
10		Type 7	The shuttle Q steals dissapears when the Calamaraine attacks it. Q apparently does not return it to the Enterprise when he gets his powers back, so this is a probable loss. [61]	Deja Q
53		Unknown	The shuttle Sacajewa crashes on a planet, badly injuring Captain Janeway and causing a gas leak. It's ultimate fate is unknown, but it could easily have been recovered. [62]	Coda
67		Type 9	The shuttle Seven and Tuvok use is captured by Penk. They are transported back to Voyager eventually, but the shuttle is apparently not recovered. [63]	Tsunkatse
56		Unknown	Three shuttles are used on a search and rescue mission. One crashes, destroying its warp and impulse engines. The others survive without incident. It is not known if the shuttle is recovered. [64]	Rise
73		Type 0	Trip blows up one of Enterprise's shuttles in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Nazis. [65]	Storm Front, Part I
75		Type 0	Trip's shuttle is shot down. There's no sign that it is recovered at the end of the episode, so this is a probable loss. [66]	Dawn
8		Type 7	Troi's shuttle crashlands on Armus's planet. It is later destroyed by a photon torpedo from the Enterprise-D [67]	Skin of Evil
15		Type 7	Two shuttles are stolen by the officers who carried out the Tarchennen investigation. One is destroyed as it enters the planet's atmosphere, the other is on the surface. It is not known if the latter is recovered, but given the infection risk I would guess not. [68]	Identity Crisis
16		Type 15	Two shuttles are stolen by the officers who carried out the Tarchennen investigation. One is destroyed as it enters the planet's atmosphere, the other is on the surface. It is not known if the latter is recovered, but given the infection risk I would guess not. [68]	Identity Crisis
63		Type 9	Two shuttles were given to the telepath refugees and taken through the wormhole. Although not destroyed, they are effectively lost to Voyager. [69]	Counterpoint
64		Type 9	Two shuttles were given to the telepath refugees and taken through the wormhole. Although not destroyed, they are effectively lost to Voyager. [69]	Counterpoint
72		Danube	Unnamed Danube class Runabout with rollbar pod is destroyed by Cardassians whilst at Empok Nor. [70]	Empok Nor

Overall

Series
Movies	0	0	2
DS9	7	1	2
ENT	1	2	7
TNG	16	4	4
TOS	2	0	0
VOY	13	4	14
Overall	39	11	29

Summary

So, we can say that throughout Star Trek we have seen thirty seven shuttlecraft destroyed. Another ten were probably destroyed, whilst a further twenty two were possibly destroyed - but more likely recovered and returned to service. Surprisingly, TNG has had more certain shuttle losses than any other series!

Enterprise is going to have problems with shuttles, I can tell. It is establispag in "Terra Nova" that the ship has only two shuttles. It is highly improbable that this ship would be able to build replacements (unlike Voyager - see below). So even one or two losses are going to result in a major continuity problem for the series. So far we have twice seen shuttles put in positions where recovering them would be difficult, though not impossible - and once seen a shuttle almost certainly lost. Time will tell...

Somewhat amazingly, only two shuttles were lost in all of The Original Series. Even considering that this show lasted only three seasons compared to the standard seven, this is impressive. I guess Kirk was pretty careful with his shuttles!

More than the others, TNG tended to interact with the rest of the Federation. This leads to a couple of oddities - for instance, when Picard gives Scotty a shuttle in "Relics", it is not lost as such - Scotty isn't likely to head right out of the Federation with it. So we can assume that sooner or later it will wind up back with Starfleet. Hence it is not listed as lost, whereas the shuttles Janeway gave away in "Counterpoint" are, since we are never likely to see them again. We also tend to see quite a few ships that do not belong to the "hero" ship in TNG, and these have been included.

It's actually debatable as to whether Runabouts can be considered shuttles or not. On the one hand, they get their own NCC numbers. On the other, they clearly aren't meant for long term independant operation the way a Starship is. Since they are carried by larger craft and used much as shuttles are used, I tend to place them in the shuttle category. For the purposes of this site, any craft less than 50 metres long and which is typically housed aboard another ship is classified as a shuttle. As well as the above named Runabouts, we have also heard of NCC 72452, the USS Rio Grand, NCC 72936, the USS Rubicon and NCC 73196, the USS Volga. Though they may have been involved in minor scrapes, none of these was in serious danger of being destroyed during the series.

We saw thirteen shuttles destroyed throughout the seven year run of Voyager, of which a dozen belonged to Voyager itself (the other being the Runabout Yellowstone). Another four were probably lost, and another twelve possibly lost - a total count of twenty eight craft.

Obviously Voyager could not carry this many shuttles - there simply is not the space on the hangar deck to fit twenty eight shuttles. Rick Sternback, who designed Voyager and created many of the technical concepts for Star Trek, has this to say : "Jeri Taylor once joked that the Maquis are all below decks building new shuttles as they're needed; we figure that shuttles can't be all that difficult to manufacture, especially if you're carrying around spare shuttle warp coils stacked like tires at a gas station. That's the only hard part, since the forging and layering of the coils is a nasty long process. The hull materials and avionics are pretty easy, so you can replicate new parts, assuming that you stop off for raw asteroidal frags and rare ores, etc. once in a while."

Indeed, it is perfectly believable that a Starship would be able to manufacture shuttlecraft, especially if those craft were originally designed with easy construction in mind. Think of the Type 9 shuttle as being something like one of those kit cars you can buy - and reasonably equipped garage could assemble such a car. Most components of a shuttle should be easily replicatable - we know from TNG's "The Next Phase" that a Starship can replicate items such as a computer core. Warp cores and antimatter pods would not be much bigger than this. Even assuming that the warp coils themselves could not be replicated, as Rick points out above these items are no bigger than a typical car tyre. It would be perfectly possible to stack several hundred of them in even a fairly small room.

My estimate would be that the components of a Type 9 shuttle could easily be replicated and assembled within a day or two.

Canon support for this idea has come from two sources. Firstly, in the episode "Alice" Chakotay states that the ship has "a full complement" of shuttles. This establishes that the ship has indeed replaced those lost previously. Secondly, in the episode "Extreme Risk" the crew builds the Delta Flyer. While it is true that Paris had already done some of the design work on the craft, there is still some way to go when the crew embarks upon the project. Nevertheless, the design is finispag and the ship built from scratch within a few days. Later a replacement Delta Flyer is also built after the original is destroyed. Building a Type 9 would be child's play compared to this project.

Really, I can't see why people have such a hard time with this. There's no reason to suppose that shuttles can't be built on a ship; there is canon proof that they can and have been doing just that. The folks who made the show confirmed that this was the case. What exactly is the problem?

Colour key

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1	VOY	5	Drone
2	TNG	5	The Perfect Mate
3	VOY	2	Innocence
4	ENT	1	Terra Nova
5	TNG	4	The N'th Degree
6	VOY	2	Maneuvers
7	VOY	2	Initiations
8	VOY	1	Cathexis
9	VOY	5	Dark Frontier, Part 2
10			Star Trek V : The Final Frontier
11	DS9	2	Paradise
12	TNG	7	Thine Own Self
13	ENT	1	Shadows of P'Jem
14	TNG	4	In Theory
15	VOY	7	Natural Law
16	VOY	4	Nemesis
17	VOY	3	Unity
18	VOY	3	Future's End, Part 2
19	VOY	2	Tattoo
20	TOS	2	The Doomsday Machine
21	TNG	6	Descent, Part 1
22	TNG	4	The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2
23	TNG	4	Brothers
24	TNG	3	The Most Toys
25	VOY	2	Resolutions
26	VOY	2	Parturition
27	DS9	1	Battle Lines
28	DS9	2	Armageddon Game
29	DS9	4	Our Man Bashir
30	DS9	3	The Die is Cast
31	DS9	6	Valiant
32	DS9	5	By Inferno's Light
33	VOY	1	Ex Post Facto
34	TNG	5	The First Duty
35	ENT	3	Zero Hour
36	VOY	5	Gravity
37	TNG	6	Timescape
38	TNG	2	Unnatural Selection
39	DS9	5	The Ascent
40	ENT	1	Desert Crossing
41	ENT	1	Breaking the Ice
42	ENT	1	Shuttlepod One
43	TNG	5	Power Play
44	VOY	4	The Raven
45	VOY	4	The Gift
46	ENT	2	Canamar
47	ENT	2	Cease Fire
48	TNG	7	Liaisons
49	TNG	7	Lower Decks
50	VOY	6	Muse
51	VOY	5	Once Upon a Time
52	VOY	6	Unimatrix Zero, Part 1
53	DS9	5	The Ship
54	VOY	3	Warlord
55	VOY	3	Real Life
56	VOY	4	Day of Honor
57	VOY	2	Non Sequitur
58	TOS	1	The Galileo Seven
59	TNG	4	Final Mission
60	TNG	6	Rascals
61	TNG	3	Deja Q
62	VOY	3	Coda
63	VOY	6	Tsunkatse
64	VOY	3	Rise
65	ENT	4	Storm Front, Part I
66	ENT	2	Dawn
67	TNG	1	Skin of Evil
68	TNG	4	Identity Crisis
69	VOY	5	Counterpoint
70	DS9	5	Empok Nor

Page views : 194,748

Last updated : 10 Nov 2024

Series :	VOY Season 5
Episode :	Drone

Series :	TNG Season 5
Episode :	The Perfect Mate

Series :	VOY Season 2
Episode :	Innocence

Series :	ENT Season 1
Episode :	Terra Nova

Series :	TNG Season 4
Episode :	The N'th Degree