The USS Henson, NCC-5460, was commissioned in 2300 after six years of design and testing. The Henson class was designed to be the new workhorse of Starfleet, much like the Constitution and Excelsior of years before.

The Henson class was designed by Ricky Bingham, of Starfleet's Advanced Starship Design Bureau (ASDB)

The Henson was named after 20th century puppeteer Jim Henson. There are other Henson class starships, each named after a puppeteer that worked with Jim Henson. They are the Oz (named for Frank Oz), the Whitmire (named for Steve Whitmire), the Goelz (named for Dave Goelz), the Hunt (named for Richard Hunt), and the Clash (named for Kevin Clash).