in the first year of "", the need quickly developed for shuttlecraft. used to carry personnel, cargo and reconnaissance payloads, shuttles filled the same need as boats on a navy ship. they were also used by starbases. for television writers, they served the dramatic function of putting characters in a small ship that could get lost. though shuttlecraft were initially expensive to build, they were eventually used in every "star trek" series. shuttlecraft designs were often shared across different media, for example the danube-class runabout featured heavily in "star trek: deep space nine", was also featured in "star trek: the next generation".