Smithsonian Museum Restoring Original 1967 USS Enterprise

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of Star Trek and it’s sure to be celebrated by the millions of fans of the series worldwide. With the next movie, Star Trek Beyond, on the way and rumours of a new TV series abound, it’ll definitely be an anniversary for Trekkies to remember. Not to be left out, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum have set about restoring the original 1967 USS Enterprise model that was used in the filming of all 79 episodes of the original series.

The model had been on display in the Smithsonian since it was donated back in 1974, but in September 2015, was taken off public showing due to the time taking its toll on the model leaving it in need of conservation. The team plan to have the model back on display later this year in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, to mark the museum’s 40th anniversary in July and Star Trek’s 50th in September. The aim of the conservation is to restore the model to its appearance in the Trouble With Tribbles episode from August 1967, which featured the last modification made to the ship during the show’s production. Trekkie’s can rest easy knowing the iconic model is in good hands, with the conservation team having collective experience spanning over 100 movies, including 8 Star Trek flicks (and four episodes of Star Wars).

The Smithsonian have shared a number of images of the work in progress on their blog, showing off more of the ins-and-outs of the model than any episode of the series would show. It’s definitely good that great effort is being made to maintain this iconic piece of sci-fi history, instead of simply remaining on display until it falls apart.