Starfleet Academy

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For additional meanings of "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy", please see Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

"I am a graduate of Starfleet Academy. I know many things."

– Worf, 2373 ("The Darkness and the Light")

Starfleet Academy (also referred to as the Space Academy) was the primary service academy of Starfleet.

The Academy existed as early as the 2140s to train United Earth Starfleet personnel. (ENT: "Storm Front, Part II") It was officially incorporated into the Federation in 2161 with the motto Ex Astris, Scientia, to serve as a training facility for Federation Starfleet officers.

The headquarters of Starfleet Academy were located in the Presidio in San Francisco, while the Academy training facility itself was located in Marin County across the Golden Gate Bridge just south of Sausalito, California. (Star Trek) The Academy program typically lasted four years, though certain programs lasted five, six, or eight years. (TNG: "The First Duty", "Conundrum"; TOS: "Bread and Circuses")

In 2367, Barash created a holoprogram of a fictional future based on William T. Riker's thoughts and expectations. In Riker's fictional service record in the holoprogram, after he was assigned the command of the USS Enterprise-D on stardate 51253, Captain Jean-Luc Picard returned to Earth where he would command the Academy. (TNG: "Future Imperfect")

For the remastered episode of "Future Imperfect", the original okudagram of Riker's service record was replaced by a new graphic. This school was mentioned in that graphic.

Preparation for admission

Academy application — Application of Admission

Admission into Starfleet Academy began with the acceptance of the candidate's application. Once the application was accepted, the candidate underwent the Academy entrance competition exams, which determined those admitted by the best scores among a group of candidates competing to gain admission. In 2364, one such location for these competitions was on Relva VII. The exam contained sections on hyperspace physics and dynamic relationships, among others. Along with the infamous "psych test", in which the prospective cadet faced their greatest fear, unannounced tests could take place at any time during the exam period. (VOY: "Imperfection"; TNG: "Coming of Age")

Not all candidates made entry into Starfleet Academy on their first attempt; however, if their scores were high enough in the competition they could be eligible to reapply the following year. If the results of the reapplication were sufficiently high they were accepted into the Academy. (TNG: "Ménage à Troi")

For non-Federation citizens, a candidate could attend the Academy if they were sponsored and had a letter of reference written on their behalf by a command level officer. Once this was accomplished, the candidate was eligible for the Academy Preparatory Exam. (DS9: "Heart of Stone"; VOY: "Imperfection")

The Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program was the next stage for consideration of admission, which consisted of six weeks of summer classes. By passing the Preparatory Program, a candidate's admission was ensured, as they had then proved to the admissions committee that they were prepared, or determined, to become a cadet. Once this had been accomplished, the candidate was then eligible for the Academy entrance exam. (DS9: "Facets")

Once the former candidate was accepted, they could enroll in Academy courses.

Attending the Academy

Extracurricular

Starfleet Academy training bases and annexes

Program for enlisted crewmen

The Academy had a separate and specific program for the training of enlisted crewpeople. Simon Tarses attended the program. (TNG: "The Drumhead")

Non-commissioned officers, such as Alfonse Pacelli, graduated from the Starfleet Technical Services Academy on Mars. (TNG: "Eye of the Beholder")

In "Trials and Tribble-ations", Bashir referred to O'Brien's Academy temporal mechanics course. Ronald D. Moore commented, "This is a mistake, plain and simple. If you want to rationalize it, I suppose we could say that the enlisted training program also takes place at the Academy." (AOL chat, 1998) However, in "Starship Down", O'Brien specifically mentions to Worf that Stevens and Muniz didn't attend the Academy, implying that the enlisted crewmen trained at a different campus, or that they didn't take the temporal mechanics course.

For the elite cadets

Training vessels

Training vessels included:

Notable exams

Kobayashi Maru test

Graduation

In 2368, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was asked to deliver the commencement address for that year's Academy graduates. The occasion was marred by the loss of a cadet in an accident shortly before commencement. (TNG: "The First Duty")

The Lost Era book Deny Thy Father noted that the commencement address at William T. Riker's graduation from the Academy was given by Dr. Leonard McCoy.

Alumni

Starfleet Academy alumni

Post-graduate options

Appendices

Background information

Exteriors of Starfleet Academy were filmed at the Japanese Gardens at Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys, California. The Golden Gate Bridge was inserted into some shots in post-production to make it appear that the Academy was located in San Francisco. This location was also used to depict the planet Rubicun III ("Justice").

In the 2009 Star Trek film, exteriors of Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge, were used to depict Starfleet Academy.

An unseen portion of the Picard family album mentioned the academy having a "Onizuka Wing".

The Academy motto was "Ex Astris, Scientia", meaning "from the stars, knowledge" in Latin. The ancient Romans usually did not use verbs in inscriptions, so it would be better translated as "knowledge comes from the stars". According to Michael Okuda, the motto was inspired by a quotation on the Apollo 13 mission patch, "Ex luna, scientia". The Apollo 13 quote was itself a paraphrase of the motto of the United States Naval Academy, "Ex Scientia Tridens," which means "from knowledge, seapower." (Star Trek Encyclopedia 2nd ed., p. 487; Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion 2nd ed., p. 197)

The initially shown version "Ex Astra, Scientia" was grammatically wrong, as the preposition "ex" requires the ablative case "Astris". According to Michael Okuda, six months after "The First Duty" aired he received a letter from a Latin Professor at Brown University pointing this out. This error was corrected for later appearances. (Memorable Missions, TNG Season 5 DVD special features)

The Academy emblem was based on a design by Joe Sena. (Star Trek Encyclopedia 2nd ed., p. 487)

The second version of the logo

There have been three versions of the Academy logo. The first version being the original logo seen in "The First Duty", with the Latin grammar error. The second was seen only briefly behind Harry Kim's interrogation in the alternate timeline in "Non Sequitur". This logo had the updated Latin phrase and the rays of light had been inverted when compared to the original, with the outer border changing to a shade of pink rather than a red. The third logo debuted shortly thereafter with an updated Starfleet insignia and the border returning to a shade of red.

Apocrypha

According to the novel The Kobayashi Maru, Starfleet Academy has a curfew.

In Star Trek Online, Federation players can visit Starfleet Academy on Earth.

External link

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