TOPIC OF THE WEEK
THE PHOENIX  AND FIRST CONTACT
 
The Phoenix was the first vehicle designed by the human race to successfully break the light barrier.  It was designed and built by Dr. Zefram Cochrane and Lilly Sloane in the middle of the 21st century.  On its maiden voyage, the Phoenix alerts a passing Vulcan ship that humans and obtained the technology to achieve warp speed.  Cochrane finished work on the Phoenix in April 2063, 10 years after the end of the third world war, in an old missile complex in central Montana USA.  The Phoenix was designed from a modified Titan Nuclear Missile.  The war head was replaced by a 4 meter cockpit module.  This cockpit was made of Titanium which at that point was hard to come by.  It took 6 months to get enough titanium to cover the cockpit.  The hull of the ship also has a titanium covering. The phoenix was launched from a missile silo.  Once launch is successful and after the first stage booster has been jettisoned, sheet metal covers on each side of the ship fall away, allowing the Warp Nacelles to extend like wings, the the plasma injectors come online. 
At 11 am on the 5th of April 2063 a Vulcan survey ship passes through Earth's solar system, but intends to ignore Earth as being too primitive to bother with.  The the warp signature of Cochrane's ship attract their attention.  This chance occurrence leads to one of the most important moments in human history - the first contact with an alien race.  This meeting not only leads to the interstellar expansion of the human race, but an extended period of peace in which great strides are taken in the fields of science, art and social engineering.

The Phoenix is now on display at the Smithsonian institute, along with a 20 meter tall statue of Zefram  Cochrane.