Vulcan Survey ship after landing in Montana, Earth, in 2063
Image scanned from the Star Trek Encyclopedia
Height: 13 m
Width: 32.1 m
Depth: 27.7 m
Mass: Unknown
Description:
During the mid-21st century, the Vulcans were using a variety of small, utilitarian starships as scouts to explore various solar systems. One such scout ship made an historic landing on Earth in 2063 after detecting the warp field from the Phoenix, Zephram Cochrane's first warp ship.
The Vulcan survey ship was a small small scout ship capable of making landfall on most class M type worlds. It featured a trinary symmetry with three engine nacelles forming the apex of an equilateral triangle. As is the case with most things Vulcan, the interior of the survey ship was very functional, with minimal creature comforts. Much of the internal space was allocated to the vast computer banks carrying great amounts of information on many different solar systems, including Sol. It was this information, mostly garnared from the radio wave transmissions which the Terrans had been transmitting since the 1930's, that allowed the Vulcans to communicate with the Zephram Cochrane and his group of scientists and engineers.
Surprisingly, despite the differences between the two races, a fast and enduring friendship was forged the day the Vulcans landed on Earth. The Vulcans quickly saw the logic in helping out a young race as it came into the warp age and the Terrans happily accepted a jumpstart with the technologically advanced Vulcans.