ABSTRACT
Theoretically, everyone in the United States was aboard the beeping and flashing deck of the USS Enterprise. In 1962, John F. Kennedy had challenged the nation to put a man on the moon. But with the Apollo space program mired in problems, including a January 1967 flash fire that killed a flight crew during a routine on-ground training mission, the starship Enterprise seemed to be the collective fantasy needed to keep spirits high. There was the prime directive handed down to the space trekkers aboard the Enterprise. Whenever they encountered an alien civilization, Captain Kirk and crew were instructed not to unduly interfere, not to introduce advanced technologies that might alter or even ruin a thriving and ancient culture. The crew of the Enterprise could escape Earth but they could not escape being human. Wherever they went, conflict waited for them. And just about every species had the same capacity to kill. This was the Cold War in space.
