The 23rd-century Starfleet heavy cruiser class that includes the original USS Enterprise and serves as the backbone of the fleet in Kirk's and Pike's era.
The Constitution-class is a Starfleet heavy cruiser of the 23rd century, made of a saucer-shaped primary hull, a secondary engineering hull and two warp nacelles. With a crew of around four hundred, ships of the class were built for long deep-space missions of exploration, diplomacy and defence. The USS Enterprise is the best-known example, but sister ships included the Defiant, Exeter, Intrepid, Constellation and Excalibur.
The class served under Captain Christopher Pike, seen in Discovery and Strange New Worlds, and under James T. Kirk during his famous five-year mission. Several sister ships were lost in incidents such as the Doomsday Machine encounter and the Tholian space anomaly. In the 2270s the class was given a major refit, and the refitted Enterprise and Enterprise-A served into the 2290s.
The Constitution-class is the iconic Star Trek starship design and the model for many later Enterprises. Its shape returned in the Constitution III-class seen at the end of Picard, keeping the lineage alive into the 25th century.