The USS Discovery (NCC-1031) was a Crossfield-class starship operated by the Federation Starfleet in the 23rd century, initially under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca and, later, Christopher Pike.

After time traveling to the 32nd century, Discovery underwent a three week retrofit and was recommissioned with the registry NCC-1031-A under the command of Captain Saru, and later Captain Michael Burnham. Over time, owing to her fusion with the Sphere data, she became a fully fledged artificial intelligence. She experienced emotions, worked with the crew, and chose her own name, Zora.

In the 33rd century, the ship was returned to her 23rd century configuration and restored back to its original NCC-1031 registry and abandoned by her crew. She then remained empty for almost a thousand years as part of a Red Directive mission. Starfleet promised to return to the ship once this mission involving Craft was completed.