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The bridge command stations provided seating and information displays for the commanding officer.
The captain’s chair was located there. Typically, the armrests of the captain's chair featured miniaturized status displays. Using a keyboard or vocal commands, the captain could use these controls to override the basic operation of the starship. Depending on the ship, the captain’s chair could be the only one in the section. Some ships had one or two other chairs in the Command section, for other officers, typically including the first officer.
The command chairs were located in the center of the bridge, to maximize interaction with all key bridge personnel, while permitting an unobstructed view of the main viewscreen.
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The tactical station was one of the primary weapons control stations found on the bridge of a starship. This station allows the tactical officer to control the ship's phasers, torpedoes, and shields. 24th century Starfleet tactical stations also often access/control communications functions as well as the ship's long range sensors.
During the mid-23rd century Constitution-class starships the tactical station was operated from the navigation and helm and worked in conjunction with the phaser control room located elsewhere on the ship.
Defiant-class starships have two tactical stations, on opposite sides of the bridge.
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The Conn or helm was responsible for controlling the flight operations of a ship, including warp, impulse and thruster control. Conn was also responsible for controlling the ship during a landing sequence or docking procedure.
Abord Starfleet ships of the 23rd century, the helm was usually manned by a helmsman. Sometime during 24th century, the position became merged with the navigator position creating a single flight control officer or pilot.
Conn console was usually positioned near the front of the ship's bridge. On some vessels, the helm stood alone. Other Starfleet vessels had two forward positions, in which case the helm was paired with another station, such as the operations station on Galaxy-class starships, or the tactical console on Ambassador-class starships.
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Ops station (also known as "operations") was a console station on Starfleet bridges of the 24th century that was manned by the operations officer. The ops station included internal systems control, communications and sensor system usage as part of its purview.
On a Galaxy-class starship such as the USS Enterprise-D, the ops station and the conn station were situated immediately before the viewscreen, ops on the left and conn on the right. Together ops and conn constitute the forward stations. On an Intrepid-class starship, the ops station was located at the rear of the bridge.
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The communications station was a console on the bridge of some Starfleet and other starships dedicated to managing all external and internal transmissions. In the 22nd and 23rd centuries, the communications officer was a senior staff position.
By the 24th century most starships didn't have a communications station, as the tactical officer now handled all communications.
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The science station was a console located on the bridge of Starfleet and other starships.
The station was designed to monitor scientific activity aboard the ship and was manned by a science officer. Science stations could also be used to query a starship's library computer. Science stations were routinely outfitted with a blue-colored scope until at least the 2260s. The scopes were phased out by the 24th century.
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The bridge's Engineering station duplicated in simplified form the Chief Engineer's primary status displays from Main Engineering. It allowed them to monitor and control engineering functions from the bridge.
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Aboard a Federation starship, an environment station was a console from which shipboard environmental operations were monitored and controlled, on the bridge.
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The navigation Station was a console located on the bridge of a starship. The console contained the flight control interface, which was designed to monitor and project a vessel's course and velocity. The console also included sensors to determine the position, speed, and trajectory of other objects and ships.
By the 24th century, the navigation console was merged with the helm.
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