Captain Jonathan Archer's ship launched in 2151, seen as the vanguard of humanity's deep-space exploration.
Enterprise, registry NX-01, was the first Earth starship able to reach warp 5. It was launched in 2151 under Captain Jonathan Archer, son of Henry Archer, who had designed its engine. Its crew included the Vulcan Sub-Commander T'Pol, chief engineer Charles Tucker, armoury officer Malcolm Reed, helmsman Travis Mayweather, communications officer Hoshi Sato and the Denobulan doctor Phlox.
Its first mission was to return a wounded Klingon courier to his homeworld, which pulled the ship into the Temporal Cold War. Over the next years the crew made first contact with many species and had dealings with the Andorians, Tellarites and Vulcans that helped draw those peoples together.
After the Xindi attack on Earth in 2153, Enterprise spent a year in the Delphic Expanse and stopped the Xindi weapon. The ship was decommissioned in 2161, the year the Federation was founded, and its name was carried on by the later starships called Enterprise.