It’s been 30 years since Star Trek: Voyager graced the screens of fans around the world for the first time. On August 28, 1995, Star Trek: Voyager’s second season kicked off with the iconic episode ‘The 37s‘. The crew of Voyager encounters a rusty truck floating in space. This leads them to a planet containing stasis pods. Among the humans inside was the infamous Amelia Earhart (Sharon Lawrence) – the first woman to attempt to fly around the world.
In recent months, news of the possible real-life discovery of Amelia Earhart’s airplane wreckage has circulated in media outlets. With an expedition pending, Star Trek: Voyager’s attempt at solving one of the greatest historical mysteries may be debunked.
Bridging History With The Future
After being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, 75,000 light-years from home, the crew of the USS Voyager spent the first season becoming acclimated to their situation. The first episode of season two, ‘The 37’s’ aptly brought a taste of home when they solved one of history’s greatest mysteries.
After the discovery of a rusty 1936 Ford truck floating through space, Voyager detects an old-fashioned S.O.S. cry for help. This leads them to a nearby planet where the mystery deepens when they find an old airplane from Earth’s past. This is the first time fans have seen the USS Voyager land on a planet’s surface. In the aircraft, the crew finds alien technology wired to the transceiver, providing an everlasting power source to broadcast the S.O.S.
Deep within a cave, the crew led by Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) finds even more alien technology in the form of stasis pods – with humans inside. They decided to awaken the occupants of the pods and met Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonen (David Graf), and a handful of other humans from the same time era. Not long after awakening, they are shocked to learn how many years have passed, and where they now reside. Captain Janeway convinces the 37s to visit Voyager. Before they could reach the ship, however, the group came under attack by hooded individuals.
Ancestors
The Voyager crew outwitted the attackers. Soon after, they discovered the attackers were humans – descendants of their stasis-held ancestors. The human colony’s leader, John Evansville (John Rubenstein), explained to the Voyager crew how they came to the Delta Quadrant.
“The Briori…They’re an alien race. They abducted over 300 people from Earth in the year 1937, brought them here, turned them into slaves. But those slaves revolted, killed the Briori, took their weapons and technology, and survived! Now there are over 100,000 of us. The Briori never came back.”
– John Evansville.
This presented the Voyager crew with a dilemma. Do they stay and settle in this new home, or do they keep striving for Earth? Captain Janeway decided to leave it up to the crew to decide individually. In the end, every crewman stayed aboard, and they continued their travels.
A Historical Mystery
Where ‘The 37s’ is a fun Star Trek story, the question remains of what happened to Earhart in reality. On July 2, 1937, news of Amelia Earhart‘s disappearance quickly spread as people anxiously awaited news of her around-the-world journey. Before disappearing, she set several records, including the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Since her disappearance, many theories have surfaced regarding what actually happened. The most straightforward and widely accepted notion is that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. However, some believe they were on a secret mission to spy on the Japanese before being shot down.
Other conspiracies have circulated. Did the Japanese capture them? Could they have diverted course for a romantic adventure? Perhaps Earhart and Noonan were abducted by aliens…
Voyager Debunked?
However, it appears there is little chance that Earhart was transported to the Delta Quadrant. Recent news developments have suggested that Earhart’s airplane may have been found. For the past 88 years, similar stories have circulated in the media, ultimately proving fruitless.
This satellite image was taken in 2015 and is now known as the Taraia object. A powerful storm shifted the sand on the island of Nikumaroro. This has since reinvigorated the search for Earhart. In November 2025, the Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute will team up to fund an expedition to Nikumaroro, aiming to determine if it is indeed Earhart’s final resting place.
Purdue University originally funded Earhart’s flight around the world, and they have continued to search for her. Adversely, scientists from a company called Nauticos recently announced that a radio from the 1930s was restored. It’s been used to significantly analyze original radio transmissions from Earhart. This has narrowed the search grid. The news comes from PR Newswire on August 19, 2025:
“Our latest radio communication analysis is a major leap forward in solving one of the most enduring mysteries in aviation history,” said Dave Jourdan, President of Nauticos. “We have narrowed the search area dramatically, and this new expedition presents our best chance yet to finally locate Amelia Earhart’s plane.”
Nauticos will launch its fourth expedition to find Earhart, near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean, this year. Between Nauticos’ and Purdue University’s separate expeditions, Amelia Earhart’s mystery may finally be solved.
Set a Course…for History!
At several points throughout the franchise, Star Trek has connected the past with the future. Episodes like “The 37s” open the mind to so many alternative possibilities. What if Earhart joined the Voyager crew for their journey? What if half the crew decided to stay on the planet? While the second question would threaten the premise of the series itself, it would have been interesting to see Earhart adapt to the 24th century. As always, Star Trek continues to explore the human condition and our insatiable desire to find answers.
“Clues were left behind that suggested a mystery. And to many humans, a mystery is irresistible. It must be solved”
Captain Jean-Luc Picard, ‘Clues’, Star Trek: The Next Generation
There is nothing we love more than a good mystery. Earhart’s disappearance will likely spark attempts at discovery until the day her plane is found, if ever.
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