Excelsior Transwarp Project

The Excelsior Transwarp Project was an attempt by the Federation Starfleet to develop a new form of propulsion. The project was the brainchild of Dr. Carter Thorndyke, an engineer and theoretical physicist with the Daystrom Institute.

In 2269, Thorndyke convinced Starfleet Command to support his project and to even take the extraordinary step of designing an entirely new class of starship expressly for the project. Two spaceframes were ordered at the project's outset, including the frame that would go on to be commissioned as the USS Excelsior (NCC-2000), and Lawrence Styles was promoted to captain and assigned to oversee the project.

Almost immediately, the project began to run into significant delays and setbacks. Early tests of drive prototypes were marred by failures and accidents, including the loss of the spaceframe NX-2001. Progress was further hampered by a difficult working relationship between Thorndyke and Styles, whose personalities clashed and caused a great deal of friction between the project's civilian and Starfleet elements. In total, it would be ten years before the Excelsior prototype would take form as an actual starship and another five before the ship would begin integrated system tests. (WOG)

In 2285, the ship was preparing to undergo final drive tests when Admiral James T. Kirk and the former command crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (including Hikaru Sulu, future captain of the Excelsior) stole the Enterprise from Earth Spacedock. The Excelsior was ordered to pursue and prepared to use its transwarp drive in an operational capacity for the first time. But upon engaging the drive, the ship suffered a total systems failure, stranding it mere kilometers from Spacedock, and allowing the Enterprise and its fugitive crew to escape. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)

After years of delays, this embarrassing failure proved to be the final straw for Starfleet Command and it immediately cancelled the ETP and had the Excelsior towed back to Spacedock to be refitted with conventional warp drive. It also reassigned Captain Lawrence Styles and placed newly promoted Captain Hikaru Sulu in command (following a trial and acquittal for his role in the theft of the Enterprise). Sulu supervised the winding down of the ETP and the refit of the Excelsior with conventional warp drive. In 2289 and with Sulu in command, the Excelsior underwent a shakedown cruise with a conventional warp drive and finally entered operational service in 2290, a full 20 years following the official start of the project. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)