avp


The USCSS Prometheus was a Heliades-class J Scientific Exploratory Vessel built and operated by Weyland Corp and captained by Idris Janek. It was a revolutionary starship and, at the time of its launch, was the most advanced and expensive faster–than–light space exploration vehicle to be constructed. It was billed as an official United States Commercial Starship in 2091. 

Sent to the Zeta Reticuli System to investigate the moon LV-223 in 2091, the Prometheus arrived two years later in 2093; it was destroyed days later in 2094.

History

The bridge of the Prometheus.

The bridge of the Prometheus.

Weyland Corp unveiled the Prometheus on July 9, 2072, with the vehicle's first flight occurring in the summer of 2073. Funding for the project was secured from a combination of Weyland, government, and private sources. The Prometheus was expected to conduct missions far beyond the most remote Weyland Corp colonies, according to Weyland Corp spokesperson William Concordov.[4] The Prometheus was an evolution of the Heliades ships, but was larger, safer and had a redesigned air frame.

In 2089, archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discovered a star map shown in the artwork of several unconnected ancient cultures. They interpreted the map as an invitation from humanity’s forerunners, or "Engineers". Sir Peter Weyland, the founder of Weyland Corp, funded the creation of the scientific vessel USCSS Prometheus to follow the map to LV-223, a moon orbiting the gas giant Calpamos in the distant Zeta Reticuli System.

The Prometheus's crew traveled to LV-223 in stasis while the android David manned the ship and studied linguistics such as Schleicher's fable. Upon arriving in 2093, the crew were informed of their mission to find the Engineers. Mission director Meredith Vickers ordered the crew to avoid making contact without her permission. Prometheus landed near a large artificial structure, and an exploratory team ventured inside.

Events on LV-223

Inside the structure, David activated a hologram. This led to the discovery of a decapitated alien lifeform and a room containing several black urns. David took one of the urns as the group left, but two expedition members, Rafe Millburn and Sean Fifield, became lost inside the structure. Millburn was killed by a creature and Holloway became infected, leading to his death. Later, the Prometheus was almost breached by a horribly mutated Fifield, who managed to kill seven crew members before being burned to death by Captain Idris Janek with a flamethrower. The situation worsened when Janek realized that the Engineers had previously planned on wiping humanity out and that a recently awakened Engineer pilot planned on completing their mission.

The Prometheus was destroyed when Shaw convinced Janek to stop the Engineer's spaceship from reaching Earth. Janek successfully crashed the ship into the Engineer's Juggernaut, destroying the former ship with all hands.

Crew

Cargo and Equipment

The Prometheus could carry up to 9 million tons of cargo.[5] The Prometheus's propulsion system was four nuclear-powered ion plasma engines capable of VTOL thrust hybrid vectoring in atmospheric and interstellar conditions. Individual cranes in the engine's outer shell lifted the heavy landing gear back into the engine. The ship carried over twenty vehicles in tow along with crew weaponry composed of Flammenwerfer 3 Heavy Incineration Units, ES-4 Electrostatic Pistols, ES-7 Supernova Electrostatic Shockguns and Weyland Storm Rifles used by mercenaries in charge of security.

The main control room housed a primary table which received the signals fed by spectagraphs, which mapped out the Juggernaut as well as the Engineer temple. It also carried seventeen hypersleep chambers. Below is the ship's full list of included equipment:

Behind the scenes

The interior of the ship was built across a two level structure, fronted by a large, faceted, wrap around windscreen; this element of the design, along with the "floating" crew positions that projected into this windshield, were recycled from an unused original design for the Nostromo's bridge in Alien.[6] Vickers' quarters were designed to represent her high status on the ship, being furnished with modern and futuristic items including Swarovski chandeliers and a Fazioli piano. The ship's garage was built on the backlot of Pinewood Studios in England.

In Jon Spaihts' original script for Prometheus, titled Alien: Engineers, the Prometheus is known as the Magellan.[7] Several pieces of concept art for the ship also carry this early name. The name was later applied to the Magellan-class J Scientific Exploratory Vessel in Alien: The Roleplaying Game — Building Better Worlds.

Appearances

Gallery

Concept Art

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 S. D. Perry. Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report, p. 45 (2014), Insight Editions.
  2. ↑ Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof (writers), Ridley Scott (director). Prometheus (2012), 20th Century Fox [DVD].
  3. ↑ S. D. Perry. Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report, p. 46 (2014), Insight Editions.
  4. ↑ Weyland Industries Viral Website
  5. ↑ Weyland Corp Website
  6. ↑ Paul Scanlon, Michael Gross. The Book of Alien, p. 44 (1979), Heavy Metal Communications.
  7. ↑ Alien: Engineers script by Jon Spaihts
  8. ↑ Prometheus - Weyland Corp Archive Second Screen App