art director matt jefferies originally envisioned a sleek, streamlined shuttle based upon his background as a pilot. the curved shape proved too expensive to build for the first episodes. amt offered to build a full-sized shuttlecraft at no cost in exchange for rights to market a model kit. the final design of the mockup, by gene winfield, is 24 feet (7.2 m) long and weighs one ton, has a plywood hull, and was built in two months by a team of 12 people. a separate set was used for interior scenes as the mockup was too small for filming. this boxlike, utilitarian shape became the prototype of shuttles throughout "star trek". the shuttlecraft, named for galileo galilei, was first featured in "the galileo seven". its registration number is ncc-1701/7 and carries a crew of seven. when "galileo" and her crew go missing in the episode a second shuttlecraft called "columbus" is launched.