Infographic: The Evolution of Star Trek

With the pending release of Star Trek: Into Darkness, Space.com has put together this infographic tracing the evolution of the Star Trek franchise from the 1966 television show’s debut through Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager and through the previous generation of theatrical movies and the new J.J. Abrams films, 2009’s Star Trek and Star Trek: Into Darkness. The timeline also ties in “real world” events such as Russia’s launch of the Sputnik in 1957, actor Wil Wheaton’s birth in 1972 and the death of Gene Roddenberry in 1991 at the age of 70.