Challenger is a Star Trek: New Earth

Star Trek: New Earth

Star Trek: New Earth is a series of Star Trek novels published by Pocket Books in the United States, as part of Pocket’s Star Trek: The Original Series line. Based on the titular TV series created by Gene Roddenberry, New Earth was created by Pocket editor John J...

novel written by Diane Carey

Diane Carey

Diane Carey is primarily a science fiction author best known for her work in the Star Trek franchise. She has been the lead-off writer for two Star Trek spin-off book series: Star Trek The Next Generation with Star Trek: Ghost Ship, and the novelization of the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, Broken...

.

In Voyages of Imagination

Voyages of Imagination

Voyages of Imagination is a Star Trek reference guide written by Jeff Ayers. It covers every Star Trek novel published up to 2006 with interviews from authors and editors...

, Diane Carey remarked on leaving ending open for a new series: "The new 'sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

' in these parts was Nick Keller, a first officer plagued with an unstable captain who was forced to take over a ship and dispossess his captain in order to save his ship and mission. The idea was for Kirk

James T. Kirk

James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...

 to leave Keller in the wilderness to be the Starfleet

Starfleet

In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...

 law enforcement force in the unstable Belle Terre system. Nick Keller's ship was destroyed, and he comes up with the idea of cobbling together a crew from the immediate reservoir. The ship Challenger was named after the space shuttle Challenger

Space Shuttle Challenger

Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...

, a suggestion from John Ordover

John J. Ordover

John J. Ordover is the founder and CEO of JJO MARKETING and was previously an editor at Pocket Books responsible for overseeing the licensed novels of the Star Trek franchise. He is the co-creator of such spin-off series as Star Trek: New Frontier , Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers and Star...

."

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