Earth Station McKinley

Earth Station McKinley, or McKinley Station, is a Starfleet facility in Earth orbit, designed for starship construction and repair. The station is able accommodate vessels at least as large as the Galaxy class. The same basic drydock design was also employed at Starbase 234 and Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards.

Earth Station McKinley is a large orbital platform supporting several large articulated work arms. It serves as a mobile starship construction and repair station, located in high orbit around Earth. Unlike Spacedock One and the San Francisco Fleet Yards, which are in stationary orbits, Earth Station McKinley is capable of greater movement, using built-in impulse drive systems to change its orbit as needed. This allows the station to rendezvous with starships in need of repair.

The station is also used to assemble new starships, as a supplement to the facilities found at the San Francisco Fleet Yards. Unfortunately, visitors to Earth must content themselves with an exterior view of Earth Station McKinley; it is restricted to Starfleet personnel.

Notable Historical Events

The U.S.S. Enterprise-D was transferred to McKinley Station shortly after its launch in 2364, before it departed for Farpoint Station. Captain Jean-Luc Picard took command of the ship while it was docked at the station.

In 2367, the Enterprise-D underwent a major refit at McKinley Station in order to repair damage suffered following the Borg incursion. The refit was estimated to last six weeks. Several systems were upgraded, including the ship's phasers and warp core, which received a new dilithium chamber hatch. An undetected defect in the hatch caused an explosion later that year, initially blamed on joint Romulan/Klingon sabotage.

In 2377, the U.S.S. Voyager received pictures of Earth from this vantage point courtesy of a transmission set up by Lieutenant Reginald Barclay at Starfleet Communications.

Reference(s)

• Isaacs, Ross A., et al. A Cadet's Guide to Sector 001, New York: Last Unicorn Games, 1999.