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The girl who made the stars

A young but brave explorer

For the type of starship operated by explorers, please see exploration vessel.
For the DS9 episode with a similar title, please see "Explorers".
"Up until about a hundred years ago, there was one question that burned in every Human, that made us study the stars and dream of traveling to them, Are we alone? Our generation is privileged to know the answer to that question. We are all explorers, driven to know what's over the horizon, what's beyond our own shores. And yet, the more I've experienced, the more I've learned that no matter how far we travel, or how fast we get there, the most profound discoveries are not necessarily beyond that next star. They're within us, woven into the threads that bind us, all of us, to each other. The final frontier begins in this hall. Let's explore it together."

An explorer was an individual who expanded the knowledge about previously unexplored or unknown locations, such as making discoveries through the process of exploration.

Explorers of Earth's North American frontier were known as frontiersmen. (DS9: "Field of Fire")

According to John Gill, Jonathan Archer was the "greatest explorer of the 22nd century". (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II", okudagram)

Captain Archer himself, as well as members of Archer's crew aboard Enterprise NX-01, including Malcolm Reed and Charles Tucker III, considered themselves explorers. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "The Andorian Incident", "Civilization")

Jonathan Archer was described as both an explorer and a great warrior to Zobral by a Suliban transport captain. (ENT: "Desert Crossing")

James T. Kirk described himself as primarily an explorer in 2269. (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")

Karla Five was a self-described explorer of space. (TAS: "The Counter-Clock Incident")

Jean-Luc Picard similarly considered himself an explorer and was also described as such by others, including Kosinski, Natasha Yar and Anij. (Star Trek Nemesis; TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before", "Skin Of Evil"; Star Trek: Insurrection) According to Beverly Crusher in 2364, great explorers (such as Picard) were often lonely. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")

Picard also occasionally described his crew and Starfleet in general as being explorers, a sentiment also shared by Data. (TNG: "Evolution", "Clues", "Schisms") During the Dominion War in 2375, when other missions took precedence, Picard lamented whether someone remembered when they used to be explorers. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

Kathryn Janeway, The Doctor, and Chakotay similarly considered the crew of the USS Voyager to be explorers. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Cold Fire", "Living Witness", "Thirty Days", "Counterpoint", "The Voyager Conspiracy", "Body and Soul")

Kes also described the crew of the Voyager as "natural-born explorers", while a trader at a space station described them as a "curious group" of explorers. (VOY: "The Cloud", "Distant Origin")

William T. Riker was called an explorer both by Jean-Luc Picard and Berlinghoff Rasmussen. (TNG: "The Icarus Factor", "A Matter Of Time")

In his first conversation with the Prophets in 2369, Benjamin Sisko described all Humans as explorers, both of the universe and their daily lives. (DS9: "Emissary")

Later that year, Miles O'Brien asked Tosk whether he was an explorer or a scientist. (DS9: "Captive Pursuit")

Several non-Starfleet personnel explicitly described themselves as not being explorers, including Kira Nerys and Quark.

During first contact with the Wadi in 2369, followed by the later discovery that Benjamin Sisko, Kira, Jadzia Dax, and Julian Bashir were unwilling participants in the Wadi game of chula, Kira remarked that "I'm sure all you Starfleet explorers find this fascinating, but I'm a Bajoran administrator. This is not what I signed up for." (DS9: "Move Along Home")

Some Starfleet members also didn't consider themselves explorers. Mortimer Harren claimed in 2376 that he "wasn't meant to be an explorer", since he only signed onto Voyager to later gain entrance into the Orion Institute of Cosmology and conduct theoretical work. (VOY: "Good Shepherd")

When Commander Benjamin Sisko contracted Quark to come along on the USS Defiant's first mission into the Gamma Quadrant to seek out the Dominion in 2371, Quark initially denied himself the opportunity, stating, "I'm not a diplomat, or an explorer, or a tactical officer, or whatever else you might need on this trip. Now, if you need a caterer, I'll be happy to loan you a new replicator..." (DS9: "The Search, Part I")

In 2371, the Caretaker described his people as explorers from another galaxy. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Cold Fire")

According to Motura, the Vidiians were known as explorers and educators before the Phage. (VOY: "Phage")

According to Neelix in 2372, he had signed on to Voyager to be a guide, strategist, explorer, and adventurer. (VOY: "Initiations")

Kathryn Janeway was called an explorer by Q, who rhetorically asked her, while analogizing his life as a Q, "You're an explorer. What if you had nothing left to explore? Would you want to live forever under those circumstances?" (VOY: "Death Wish") When another Q later offered to conceive a child with Janeway and told her she could explore entirely unknown dimensions with their child, she admitted that every explorer would be intrigued by such a prospect. (VOY: "The Q and the Grey")

The Mikhal Travelers were described by Captain Janeway as a "loosely governed race of explorers." (VOY: "Darkling")

According to Janeway, Erin and Magnus Hansen fancied themselves explorers, but wanted nothing to do with Starfleet or the Federation. (VOY: "The Gift") Later, Janeway called their methods "unorthodox" but stated that most great explorers were. The Doctor commented that most explorers didn't take their four-year old daughter along. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

Chakotay was called a scientist and explorer by Tuvok in 2374. (VOY: "Nemesis") A year later, Harry Kim jokingly called Chakotay a true explorer for going on a date with Valerie Archer. (VOY: "In the Flesh")

When One named himself as being an explorer in 2375, Seven of Nine replied that "we [the crew of Voyager] all are". (VOY: "Drone")

Naomi Wildman described herself as an explorer upon meeting a holographic Trevis. When asked by Trevis what this was like, she replied with "space battles with aliens and strange anomalies". (VOY: "Once Upon a Time")

Members of a photonic species described themselves as explorers when encountering Doctor Chaotica. (VOY: "Bride of Chaotica!")

Kurros described the Think Tank as a small group of explorers, like the Voyager crew, though, his group sought challenges. (VOY: "Think Tank")

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