Credits

FRONT COVER MPTV; (background) Ali Karaalioglu/EyeEm/Getty Images

CONTENTS 2–3 CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

INTRODUCTION 5 Courtesy Jim Weber

A BOLD VISION 6–7 Photofest 9 CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images 10–11 (clockwise from top left) CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; ­Everett; Photofest; Everett 12–13 Richard Howard/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

50 YEARS: A LONG AND PROSPEROUS JOURNEY 14–15 (top, from left) CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; Marty Lederhandler/AP; Photofest (bottom, from left) CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; Kobal; Everett; Courtesy CBS

DIVERSITY ON THE BRIDGE 16–17 MPTV 18 Everett 19 Photofest 20 (from top) Mike Slaughter/Getty Images; Photofest 21 (from top) CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; Photofest 22 CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

RACING TO SPACE 2431 All photos courtesy NASA 30 Photo-illustration by Mark Rademaker

A STARSHIP FIELD GUIDE 32 (from top) CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; Kobal 33 (from top) Everett; Kobal(2)

WAIT . . . ARE THEY MAKING THAT UP? 3441 All photos CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

THE FUTURE OF GADGETS IS NOW 42–43 Photofest 44 MPTV(2) 45 Shutterstock 46 (from top) Shutterstock (2); T3 Magazine/Getty Images 47 Courtesy Google 48 Everett

THIS ENTERPRISE GOES EVERYWHERE 50 (from top) Hieu Pham/AFP/Getty Images; Chen Jun/Imaginechina/AP; Neftali/Alamy 51 (from top) Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage; Getty Images; NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

TO SEEK OUT NEW LIFE 52–53 Everett 54 CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images (2); 55 (from top) CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; Photofest 57 Everett 58 Everett

TOP 10 ALIENS OF THE TREK UNIVERSE 60 Illustrations by Lon Tweeten for TIME

TAKING KLINGON TO COURT 62 Robert Sherbow/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

SPOCK AND AWE 64–65 Ron Galella/WireImage 66–67 (from left) Photos 12/Alamy; Photofest 68 Photofest

A SHOPPING SPREE AT THE FINAL FRONTIER 70 (clockwise from top left) ­ PhotoStock-Israel/Alamy; Steve Carroll/Alamy; Wenn/Alamy; Star Trek Products (3) 71 (clockwise from top left) Ace Stock Limited/Alamy; Star Trek Products (2); Marc Tielemans/Alamy; Star Trek Products

STAR TREK VS. STAR WARS 72 CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images 73 Terry O’Neill/Getty Images

RISE OF THE TREKKER 74–75 Dan Farrell/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images 76 Courtesy Bjo and John Trimble 77 Harry Chase/Los Angeles Times Archive/UCLA 78 (from top) AP; REX/Shutterstock; Stephen Morton/Getty Images 79 (from top) Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images; EPA/Alamy 80 David Livingston/Getty Images

FAMOUS FANS 82 (clockwise from top left) Milos Bicanski/Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images; Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images; Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg/Getty Images 83 (clockwise from top left) Paul Morigi/WireImage; Steve Exum/Getty Images; Myrna Suarez/Getty Images; Lobsang Wangyal/AFP/Getty Images; Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images; Adam Jeffery/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

A POLITICAL ENTERPRISE 84–85 ScreenScenes 87 Joseph Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 88 Photofest 89 ScreenScenes 90 Photofest 92 MPTV 93 James Sorenson/CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

WHICH CAPTAIN ARE YOU? 94 (clockwise from top right) Christian Adams/Getty Images; Photofest (3); Neal Peters Collection; CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images; Napat Polchoke/­iStockphoto/Getty Images; Everett 95 Photofest