Star Trek‘s starships travel vast distances throughout the galaxy thanks to faster-than-light travel known as warp speed. Within the Star Trek universe, the invention of warp drive technology is often used to determine whether a culture is ready to learn that other life exists in the galaxy. The Vulcans made first contact with Earth, for example, just after Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) completed humanity’s first successful warp flight. Starfleet’s Prime Directive states that official first contact should only occur after a civilization has achieved faster-than-light travel.