Star Trek Day has barely begun and already we’ve got another new set of announcements — this time, from our friends at Hero Collector — about a long-awaited expansion of The Official Star Trek Starships Collection, and a new book from one of the franchise’s best-loved actors.

First up is the news that Star Trek: Lower Decks is finally making the leap from its animated realm into the physical world, as the series’ hero starship — the California-class USS Cerritos — is set to kick off the first of a series of models based upon the Trek comedy.

Announced through StarTrek.com today, the Cerritos will be part of the XL Starships lineup, with a 9.75-inch-long replica of the California-class vessel slated for arrival to fans’ collections in January 22 — with the animated edition of Captain Riker’s Luna-class USS Titan to follow soon after.

While fans have wondered what’s taken so long, the crew at Eaglemoss/Hero Collector needed time to translate the animated VFX files for the two starship from their original form into a design that could be successfully produced in real life — in a way that faithfully replicates the ships as seen on-screen.

Here are two views of the Cerritos model shared on the StarTrek.com announcement today, to give everyone an idea of what the final product will look like:

While no additional photography of the physical models have yet been released — we’ll show them off as soon as they’re made available! — the Cerritos and Titan will each be based upon the ships’ appearances in Lower Decks Season 1 — which means the Lower Decks version of the Titan will be a bit different than the smaller model released back in 2017.

In addition to that great news, another surprising announcement comes from Hero Collector’s publishing arm today: Colonel Kira herself, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actor Nana Visitor revealed on StarTrek.com this morning that she is writing a book focused specifically on the franchise’s portrayal of — and influence on — women.

Still in the works, A Woman’s Trek — From Uhura to Burnham: Star Trek’s Female Stars on Six Decades of Change and Empowerment  will include interviews conducted by Visitor herself, allowing readers to hear from Star Trek actors and writers from throughout franchise history, along with other authors, NASA scientists, and more.

In Visitor’s announcement video (which you can watch at the link above), there are a number of Trek actors spotted (including her DS9 co-stars Terry Farrell, Nicole de Boer, Penny Johnson Jerald, along with Discovery’s Mary Chieffo) — plus a number of behind the scenes contributors like writers, stunt women, and more all being interviewed for the project.

As of this writing, beyond “2022,” no specific release date has been set for A Woman’s Trek (since it’s still being written!) but as soon as we know more about when you’ll be able to read Visitor’s tantalizing new book, we’ll share that news with you here.

Are you finally ready to get your hands on Star Trek: Lower Decks ship models — and what other starship designs are you hoping Eaglemoss/Hero Collector makes from the animated series?

What are your thoughts on Nana Visitor’s new book project? Sound off in the comments below!