We’re starting to get more ancillary information on the in-universe world of Star Trek: Discovery as we approach September’s premiere, and now that Discovery data is coming from merchandise coming out of STLV in Las Vegas!

FanSets has been producing Star Trek pin releases for the past several years, and this year at STLV they’re debuting their first Discovery pins, including a few characters – but also a dedicated pin for the USS Shenzhou, captained by Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXPEbYbHaTk/

This new pin reveals that the Shenzhou is categorized as a Walker-class starship, which is a new design and designation for the Trek universe – though of course given the show’s mid-23rd Century period setting, it’s not impossible that the Walker-class line of ships weren’t used much past that era.

There’s not many pre-Kirk reference points for the “Walker” behind the Walker-class, with only one in-universe character with that name (an Enterprise-era MACO soldier, not even seen on-screen)… but perhaps it’s a sly reference to lead actor Sonequa Martin-Green’s previous role?

In reality, longtime Trek starship designer John Eaves revealed that the class name is actually named after X-15 test pilot Joe Walker, who flew spaceplanes for the United States in the mid-1960’s.

We’ll see what other news may come out about this class at the Las Vegas Discovery panels this Wednesday!