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A shuttlecraft, in the Star Trek fictional universe, is a smaller type of ship, usually capable of atmospheric transport, detachable from a larger starship's shuttlebay. Its role on starships is analogous to the use of naval helicopters on modern warships of the present day, as shuttlecraft often possess their own weapons and intelligence capabilities, and undertake a variety of missions. Additionally, many starships have shuttle bays regardless of their ship class, just as most naval ships have a helicopter landing pad and hangar.

Larger classes of shuttlecraft usually have their own weapons, defenses, and communication systems, as well as emergency transporters in case of a crash. As of Star Trek: Voyager, advanced shuttles are capable of speeds of up to Warp 4.

The USS Enterprise traditionally names its shuttlecraft after renowned explorers and scientists. The three original named shuttlecraft were Galileo and Columbus, which appeared during The Original Series, and Copernicus, which appeared in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Slaver Weapon". Galileo and Copernicus, at least remained traditional names for USS Enterprise shuttlecraft among the many incarnations of that starship. During Star Trek: The Original Series, several episodes depicted missions for the shuttlecraft. It was shown performing planetary exploration and search and rescue in Galileo Seven, and carried out a survey mission in The Immunity Syndrome.

Many other shuttlecraft (or shuttlepod) names were introduced during Star Trek: The Next Generation such as Magellan. Also, as homages to more contemporary scientists, names such as Farouk El-Baz, Marie Curie, Ellison Onizuka, Robert H. Goddard, Richard Feynman, Jacques Cousteau and Stephen Hawking were introduced.

SC-4 in Voyager's shuttle bay

Ablative armor deployed

SC-4 is the designation of a 25th century Federation Starfleet shuttlecraft appearing in the episode Star Trek: Voyager episode "Endgame".

Shuttlecraft SC-4 belongs to Admiral Kathryn Janeway and sports advanced weaponry and defensive systems, some of which are stolen from the Klingons.

See also: Weapons of Star Trek

SC-4 carries a complement of transphasic torpedoes capable of destroying a Borg cube with one direct hit. These torpedoes are successfully adapted for use by the USS Voyager.

The stealth device is incompatible with Voyager's systems; Admiral Janeway uses the SC-4's stealth device to hide "on the door step" of the Borg Queen's Unimatrix 01 when the Queen attempts to trick Janeway.

See also: Ablative armor

The SC-4 is fitted with ablative hull armor generators later adapted for use by Voyager. While deployed, neither SC-4 nor Voyager can fire phasers, although they can fire torpedoes.

SC-4's ablative hull armor is capable of withstanding a direct attack from the disruptors of a Klingon Negh'Var class battleship. When used by Voyager, the ship withstands an attack by three Borg cubes with minimal damage to the ablative armor.

Main article: Romulan starships

Romulan shuttles are known to be in use in the 2370s and are similar in size to a Federation Danube-class runabout.

• Shuttlecraft article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki