April 5^th is the anniversary of First Contact Day, when Humans and Vulcans first met on Earth!

To celebrate the anniversary of First Contact Day, the Zefram Cochrane Memorial and Historical Museum is holding a special re-enactment event from Thursday, March 30th at 9AM PST til Thursday, April 6th at 10AM PST. Participants are invited to visit to Bozeman, Montana—the site of Cochrane’s launch of the first Human warp-capable ship, the Phoenix—and engage in the construction of their own replica Phoenix!

Captains who participate will search the area for useful parts, just like Cochrane scavenged the pieces for the Phoenix. Using these parts in conjunction with a basic hull assembly, captains will make their own model of the Phoenix by combining engines, hull, and stabilizer parts found in various bits and pieces scattered about the re-creation of the historical settlement. Under the shadow of Zefram Cochrane’s statue, try to get the best parts possible, because the engines will make your model go faster, hull will allow it to survive longer, and stabilizers will keep it going at a better angle of launch.

Once captains have had a few minutes to collect their parts, they’ll return to their unfinished models and use leftover pieces to improve on the pieces they’ve assembled. After that, everyone will assemble at the missile silo to launch the models. Whoever’s model reaches the highest altitude will be declared the winner of that launch and the honorary student of Cochrane.

Captains of level 10 and above may participate in this event—even captains from the Klingon Defense Force and Romulan Republic are welcome to join these festivities, as a celebration of diversity and the meeting of different species.

We hope to see you there, reaching… toward the future!

Jesse Heinig
Staff Game Designer
Star Trek Online