This ship was named as a successor to previous vessels named Excelsior of history, notably the 23rd century Excelsior-class prototype USS Excelsior. In the year 2365, the Excelsior was under the command of Captain Muriel Epstein. She was assigned to captain Excelsior on a deep space exploration mission in sector 034. This information appeared on a starship deploy status report at Starbase 173. (TNG episode: "The Measure of a Man") In 2369 the Excelsior was operating in the area of space near the planet Riat. (TNG - The Space Between comic: "Light of Day")