Away Mission
An away mission is a mission on which an away team performs tasks in locations outside of their starship or starbase. This includes missions on planet surfaces and other starships. Away missions range from exploration or first contact to combat. The majority of these missions are launched using a ship's transporter to send the crew to their destination. When use of the transporter is impossible, shuttlecraft are used.
This new regulation did not stop all Captains from joining away team missions, however. For example, Captain Kathryn Janeway was part of the team that stole a transwarp coil from a Borg sphere and led the rescue mission into the heart of Borg territory, personally rescuing Seven of Nine. (VOY: "Dark Frontier") Several years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard insisted on joining the away team which found B4, as he was "itching to try out the Argo." (Star Trek Nemesis)
Types of Away Teams[edit]
Landing Party[edit]
A landing party was a group of starship personnel equipped for missions involving landing on a planet's surface.
On 1947 Earth, while trying escape from the US armed forces, Nog claimed that Ferengi landing parties were to land in the United States of America. Captain Wainwright thought the first landing parties would invade Cleveland. (DS9: "Little Green Men")
The term was used by Starfleet as early as 2151. (ENT: "The Andorian Incident"), although the term "away team" was used as well. (ENT: "Fortunate Son")
In 2268, Captain James T. Kirk regarded landing party recommendations as a matter of judgment. M-5 chose its recommendations on the basis of logical selection. It did not choose Captain Kirk or Doctor McCoy on the basis that they were "non-essential personnel." (TOS: "The Ultimate Computer")
In 2338, the USS Tripoli sent down a landing party to the planet Omicron Theta. There they discovered Data and the remains of the destroyed Omicron Theta colony. (TNG: "Datalore")
By the 2360s, Starfleet adapted the term "away team" instead of "landing party," although it was occasionally used synonymously. (TNG: "The Last Outpost", "The Arsenal of Freedom", "The Royale")
Other cultures, such as the Ferengi, would still refer to the term "landing party" into the 2370s. (TNG: "Gambit, Part I"; DS9: "Little Green Men")
Observer Team[edit]
An observer team is a specialized group composed primarily of anthropologists. They are often sent in to watch any culture that is not considered ready for first contact. Observer teams make use of duck blinds and isolation suits and are often assigned to cultural observation posts. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
Survey Team[edit]
A survey team is a specialized group sent to survey a planet, often prior to colonization. They take note of geological and biological oddities. (ENT: "Bound")
In early 2373, Captain Benjamin Sisko led a survey team from Deep Space 9 to the cormaline-rich Gamma Quadrant planet Torga IV. (DS9: "The Ship")
Engineering Team[edit]
An engineering team is a specialized away team sent to assist with technical matters.
In 2368, the USS Enterprise-D beamed down an engineering team to assist the Moab IV colonists in installing a structural support system. (TNG: "The Masterpiece Society")
In 2063, Geordi La Forge led an engineering team assigned to assist Zefram Cochrane repair the Phoenix after a Borg attack. (Star Trek: First Contact)
In late 2373, General Martok requested an engineering team from Deep Space 9 to be waiting when the IKS Rotarran docked to begin repairing its battle damage. (DS9: "Soldiers of the Empire")
A Jem'Hadar engineering team was able to restart the impulse engine of the USS Defiant, after they had been damaged in the attack that enabled them to capture the starship in 2374. (DS9: "One Little Ship")
