Apollo

The Apollo is the fourth 304, assigned to the Second Tactical Wing, produced by the United States, and the third operated by the U.S. Air Force. Like its sister ship, the Daedalus, it was deployed to the Pegasus Galaxy shortly after its commissioning, and provided assistance to the Atlantis Expedition there.

Ark of truth
The Apollo was rushed into service when several Ori motherships made their way towards Earth, with the ship posted to defend the planet. However, the ship never saw battle as the Ori ships stayed outside the Solar system and the Ori were already defeated by the Ark of Truth. Sometime after that, the ship was sent to serve Atlantis.

First strike on Asuras
On its first voyage to Atlantis, the Apollo arrived ahead of schedule, impressing Doctor Elizabeth Weir. The ship's first mission was to destroy a fleet of ships being constructed by the Asurans, presumably to be used in an attack against Earth. This marked the first use of the Horizon weapons system, which could be deployed from a bomb bay on the Apollo's underside. After observing the weapons' detonation, the Apollo briefly withdrew while Lt. Colonel John Sheppard conducted a battle damage assessment in a cloaked puddle jumper, and then returned to Atlantis after retrieving him.

Not long afterward, a small satellite appeared in orbit of Lantea, and the Apollo was dispatched to investigate. Shortly after identifying the satellite as carrying a Stargate, the ship was hit by a powerful energy beam which the Asurans fired through the connecting wormhole, before the satellite focused its attention on Atlantis itself. The Apollo's weapons proved ineffective against the satellite's shield, and with their shields severely weakened, the Apollo was unable to contribute directly to Atlantis' defense. When Doctor Elizabeth Weir opted to move Atlantis to another world, M12-578, the Apollo evacuated all nonessential personnel from the city, and did not accompany it into hyperspace.

Search for Atlantis
When the Apollo arrived at the designated rendezvous point, Atlantis had not. They contacted the Midway station to notify them of the situation. With the help of Colonel Samantha Carter, the ship's sensor range was drastically increased, allowing it to search for Atlantis along the route between Lantea and M12-578. After successfully locating the city and learning of Sheppard's raid on the Replicator homeworld to retrieve a new ZPM, the Apollo left to Asuras, rescuing Sheppard and his team. The ship engaged an Asuran warship in the process, but probably withdrew before either side suffered serious damage.

Asgard upgrades
Later both the Apollo and Daedalus traveled to Atlantis to use their new Asgard beam weapons to fight the Replicator fleet. The Apollo and Daedalus destroyed a total of seven enemy ships in this manner before the entire replicator fleet retreated to Asuras to have safety in numbers and to replace the ships that were destroyed. The Apollo and Daedalus led a joint strike on the planet leading a fleet of seven Wraith Hive Ships and six Travelers ship, including the Travelers Ancient Warship. The fleet held off the Asuran ships and prevented them from escaping as McKay implented his plan. The plan succeded and Asuras and most of the Asuran Replicators were destroyed.

Later, the Apollo, while in Earth orbit, joined in the search for a human made Replicator loose on Earth. The Apollo destroyed the Replicator in the end by beaming it into the atmosphere causing it to burn up and die.

Crew

 * Commanding Officer
 * Colonel Abraham Ellis

Trivia

 * Apollo was the Greek God of the sun.
 * The Apollo missions were the earliest space missions to land on the moon, including Apollo 11 which was the first and Apollo 13 the ill-fated attempt that was made into a movie.
 * Apollo is also the call-sign of another character on Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica.