Here's one possible take, with a few dates mined from the Fenwiki.
The United Federation of Planets can trace their roots back to May 23, 1974, when the Texas-based USS Enterprise fan club renamed itself STARFLEET. Their presence in space dates back to May 2007, when the USS Southern Cross (with help from other STARFLEET clubs) put a shuttlecraft in orbit two weeks after [[Katz Schrödinger] first went into space.
The faction's next milestone took place on July 9, 2007, when the USS Dejah Thoris club landed on Utopia Planitia and Cdr. Mary Zieger [Since you invoked E.R.Burroughs, I borrowed his wife's maiden name] became the first person to set foot on Mars.
The year 2008 was a watershed for the Trekkies. First, the core of Starbase 1 was assembled in Earth orbit - modules were launched from the UK, Washington state, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudia Arabia. [Did you mean "South Africa" here? Their country code is .za] Second, the USS Phoenix became the first ship to visit another star, discovering the planets Pandora and Chiron in the Alpha Centauri system. Finally, Starbase 1 gained its first crew when the handwavium panics swept the United States; nearly 85% of American STARFLEET members and their families moved into space. This was the trigger for STARFLEET to formally disband, re-form as the United Federation of Planets, and offer citizenship to any dispossessed Star Trek fan, making the UFP Fenspace's first recognized Faction.
August 2009 brought Islandcon (officially "Anticipation"), the first World Science Fiction Convention in space. Fenspace's standing constitution was refined and adopted here, and the Federation's leaders were among the first to sign it. However, the Federation were one of the first two factions to violate the convention, during the [[Tomed Incident] in November 2009. It took a diplomatic note from both Starfleet Command and the 501st Legion to the people involved - the Treaty of Algeron"Stop being dickheads and play nice, already!" - to get things under control.
Official recognition of the Federation by Earthside groups started in 2010, when Paramount endorsed the faction's use of their intellectual property.It was free publicity for the then-upcoming franchise reboot, and they couldn't stop it anyway. The new movies were released the following year; their success brought a new generation of fans off Earth and into the Federation.
The UFP, like all factions, took part in the [[Boskone War]. While they were most visible in large fleet actions against Boskonians, their primary contribution was delivering people and supplies where they needed to be, flying escorts for both smaller factions and their own transports.
Turn the record over to hear the rest of the story ...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
The United Federation of Planets can trace their roots back to May 23, 1974, when the Texas-based USS Enterprise fan club renamed itself STARFLEET. Their presence in space dates back to May 2007, when the USS Southern Cross (with help from other STARFLEET clubs) put a shuttlecraft in orbit two weeks after [[Katz Schrödinger] first went into space.
The faction's next milestone took place on July 9, 2007, when the USS Dejah Thoris club landed on Utopia Planitia and Cdr. Mary Zieger [Since you invoked E.R.Burroughs, I borrowed his wife's maiden name] became the first person to set foot on Mars.
The year 2008 was a watershed for the Trekkies. First, the core of Starbase 1 was assembled in Earth orbit - modules were launched from the UK, Washington state, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudia Arabia. [Did you mean "South Africa" here? Their country code is .za] Second, the USS Phoenix became the first ship to visit another star, discovering the planets Pandora and Chiron in the Alpha Centauri system. Finally, Starbase 1 gained its first crew when the handwavium panics swept the United States; nearly 85% of American STARFLEET members and their families moved into space. This was the trigger for STARFLEET to formally disband, re-form as the United Federation of Planets, and offer citizenship to any dispossessed Star Trek fan, making the UFP Fenspace's first recognized Faction.
August 2009 brought Islandcon (officially "Anticipation"), the first World Science Fiction Convention in space. Fenspace's standing constitution was refined and adopted here, and the Federation's leaders were among the first to sign it. However, the Federation were one of the first two factions to violate the convention, during the [[Tomed Incident] in November 2009. It took a diplomatic note from both Starfleet Command and the 501st Legion to the people involved - the Treaty of Algeron"Stop being dickheads and play nice, already!" - to get things under control.
Official recognition of the Federation by Earthside groups started in 2010, when Paramount endorsed the faction's use of their intellectual property.It was free publicity for the then-upcoming franchise reboot, and they couldn't stop it anyway. The new movies were released the following year; their success brought a new generation of fans off Earth and into the Federation.
The UFP, like all factions, took part in the [[Boskone War]. While they were most visible in large fleet actions against Boskonians, their primary contribution was delivering people and supplies where they needed to be, flying escorts for both smaller factions and their own transports.
Turn the record over to hear the rest of the story ...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012