Away team
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In the Star Trek fictional universe, an away team (also known as a "landing party") is a group of individuals sent off a starship to accomplish a mission, either on a planet's surface or another starship. Starfleet protocol requires away teams to be armed with weapons (usually hand phasers) and tricorders and some away teams may require environmental suits, depending upon the nature of the mission. The away team may vary in size from two to dozens, although a size of three to six is most common. The demands of storytelling often mean that the Captain is on the mission (although this would be rare in real life), however in Star Trek series set further in the future they more often remain on the bridge.
On Star Trek: The Original Series, the landing party usually consisted of one or more regular characters, plus at least one "sixth man" or "redshirt" (from the uniform color) who would be the victim (often fatally) of the planet's dangers. This occurred less frequently in later series, especially Voyager and Enterprise, where the ship did not have a limitless supply of crewmembers.
The fact that, in The Original Series, the landing party often included Captain Kirk was seen as a seriously unrealistic proposition. This was one reason for the creation of the "First Officer" role, occupied by Commander Riker on TNG and Chakotay on VGR, which would allow a central, but more believable character to go on away missions.
Away teams usually went on missions to explore unknown planets, in Voyager for example in attempts to find resources, or diplomatic and first contact missions. It was normal for them to travel by transporter, however it was often necessary due to "atmospheric interferance" for the team to make use of a shuttlecraft, which was more than likely to crash.
Star Trek: Away Team was also a computer game developed by Activision where the player chose and controlled an away team on a number of missions.
External links
- "Away team" at Memory Alpha (http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/index.php/Away_team)
- A site on Starfleet environmental suits (http://www.ship3.fsnet.co.uk/sewg.htm)