This privilege and burden of first contact is not taken lightly and, as the slightest misinterpreted action can result in tragedy, the crews and commanding officers of Explorer ships are extremely well versed in first-contact procedures.ĭue to Explorer-class ships dominating the exploration field, they are equipped with the latest in sensor and communications technology, allowing greater ease in contacting and communicating with different alien species. As this is the case, Explorer ships are often the first class of Earth Alliance vessel an alien race might come into contact with. Their massive jump engines and powerful fusion reactors, however, enable Explorer-class vessels to escape dangerous situations quickly.Įxplorer ships spend a great deal of their time exploring The Rim, the uncharted and unexplored areas of space that have not been claimed by any known race. This makes Explorer ships large, ill-defended targets. The primary mission of all Explorer ships is research and exploration, thus they only possess moderate defenses consisting of four turreted 52 millimetres (2.0 in) pulse cannons, four twin particle beam arrays, and two squadrons of Starfuries. An Explorer ship may be visible in these brief scenes, but this has not been confirmed. The episode 'A Late Delivery From Avalon' contains a flashback to the Earth Alliance's first encounter with the Minbari, which allegedly comprised an Earth 'Explorer Division' encountering a Minbari fleet. In the series Crusade, we learn that Captain Matthew Gideon was the captain of an Explorer-class ship. Indeed, 'A Distant Star' is the only regular episode* in which an Explorer-class vessel appears.Īn identical ship to Cortez is seen for a few seconds in the background in the fourth season episode 'Rising Star'.

if you're supremely lucky, you'll see two like her in your lifetime.' Sheridan's comment conveys the rare nature of Explorer-class vessels. In the episode 'A Distant Star', Captain Sheridan tells the crew in C&C, 'Take a good look people. The Explorer is built to explore, conduct research, and build jumpgates. The Explorer-class starship is an exploratory starship of the Earth Alliance. 4.3 Named Hyperion-class heavy cruisersĮxplorer-class starship Explorer-class starshipīeigle-Bryant 9000A Particle Thrust Engine.

Babylon 5 earth alliance ships