Starfleet is a fictional organization in the television and film franchise
Star Trek. Within this
fictional universe it is a deep-space exploratory,
peacekeeping, and military service maintained by the
United Federation of Planets ("the Federation"). It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration,
defense, diplomacy, and research. While the majority of its members are human and it is headquartered on Earth, Starfleet is composed of hundreds of species (which includes the majority of the franchise's
protagonists).