(covers information from several alternate timelines)
|A painting of the Enterprise in 2143|
|An illustration of the Enterprise in 2270s|
In the alternate reality, a small model of this ship was displayed on Admiral Alexander Marcus' desk in 2259, together with other historical aircarft, spaceships and starships. (Star Trek Into Darkness)
|The Starships Enterprise|
|United Earth: XCV 330 • NX-01|
|Federation: NCC-1701 • NCC-1701-A • NCC-1701-B • NCC-1701-C • NCC-1701-D • NCC-1701-E • NCC-1701-J|
|Terran Empire (Mirror Universe): NX-01 • NCC-1701|
|Federation (Alternate Reality): NCC-1701|
Origin of the design
The Enterprise was originally a Matt Jefferies design. It was designed for a Gene Roddenberry television project in development sometime after the cancellation of Star Trek: The Original Series, and prior to Star Trek: Phase II. This television show never came to fruition.
The following is from a Lincoln Enterprises catalog, describing some elevations of the ship that could be purchased through the company: "Gene Roddenberry's imagination brings you "Starship". The vessel of the future as only he could picture it. This could be the forerunner of a new TV series, a Starship operated by an enormous computer which is a lifeform itself. Each human on board is a genius, a highly trained science specialist, part of a team of Galactic trouble shooters. A brand-new concept in future space travel. We also have three different views of the Metatransit system, side elevations of the systems analysis unit, and the Metaflier section of the Starship. Imagine yourself on a mission in space aboard this luxury cruiser. You'll be spellbound!"
Star Trek appearances
A legible version of the photograph of the Enterprise from the set of Star Trek: The Motion Picture was reproduced in The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The photograph shows both the name "USS Enterprise" and the registry number XCV 330 clearly. The book describes the ship as "the very first starship U.S.S. Enterprise". Based on appearance of the painting and mission patch and the events in "First Flight", the Enterprise was launched sometime before 2143 and if it was equipped with warp drive, it was presumably limited to warp factor 2, as the episode documents the first Earth ships to surpass warp 2.
In the July 2002 Issue 39 of Star Trek: The Magazine Doug Drexler stated, that the Enterprise was one of the inspirations for his design of the Vulcan Suurok-class starship. The ring-shaped configuration was solidified for other Vulcan starships in the series. Following the release of Star Trek: Enterprise, internet rumors speculated that the portrait of the XCV 330 seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture might be replaced by the Enterprise NX-01 in the Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition). However, this did not come to pass.
The Artisan prop and model shop of Quantum Mechanix, QMx FX Cinema Arts, was asked to illustrate the history of space flight with models for Star Trek Into Darkness. They constructed fourteen models in total. A detailed picture of the USS Enterprise model can be seen at their website. According to the site, the Enterprise was Earth's first sublight, interplanetary, and interstellar space vehicle. 
The Enterprise has not been given a specific launch date in canon. However, the gallery of models in Star Trek Into Darkness appeared to be in chronological order of launch. The Enterprise was placed after the Ares V and before the Phoenix, suggesting that it was a pre-warp ship and had a launch date somewhere between the 2020s and 2063.
Prefix and history
Star Trek Encyclopedia calls this ship "S.S. Enterprise".
Chart B of the Star Trek Maps features a side-view drawing of the Enterprise. On that drawing, the ring-pylon is marked "7". The long "neck" of the ship is marked "ENTERPRISE". The drawing is captioned: "Starliners. Earth's first attempts at manned interstellar probes were launched during the 2050s at various target stars within fifteen light years of Sol. Only one, the UESP Enterprise, reached its destination – the sunlike binary pair of Alpha Centauri – before they were overtaken by the new faster-than-light spacecraft. The 120-meter-long Starliners had a crew complement of 35." The UESP-prefix presumably stands for "United Earth Space Probe", which would make Enterprise a ship of the United Earth Space Probe Agency.
According to On Board the USS Enterprise (pg. 7) and the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology, the Enterprise was an interstellar liner launched in 2123. The Spaceflight Chronology features a side-view drawing and a detailed painting of the Enterprise. This however might not even be the same ship. Only the overall shape is similar. It should also be noted that in the timeline of the Spaceflight Chronology, for example, the Federation was incorporated in 2087 and the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was launched in 2188. So in the canon timeline, this version of the Enterprise would have to be placed somewhere in the very late 22nd to the early 23rd century, well after the time of Star Trek: Enterprise.
The Spaceflight Chronology includes the following descriptions: USS Enterprise - Declaration Class 2123-2165. Length: 300 m, Weight: 52.7 mil. kg, Ship's complement: 950. Propulsion: Adv. Second Generation Warp Drive. A total of 957 of these warp 3.2 starliners were built for the Cultural Exchange Project of the United Federation of Planets. The Enterprise was the first ship to be equipped with a subspace radio and was the most popular passenger carrier of its time.
According to the novel Star Trek: Ex Machina, this Enterprise was only an unused prototype based on Vulcan ships of the same period.
The Star Trek: Ships of the Line (2011) calender listed in its center spread a comparison of the Enterprise (NX-01) and the Enterprise (XCV-330) and carried the following description: The XCV ENTERPRISE was a radical reinvention of warp technology based on Vulcan design principles. It proved to be 17% more efficient than Vulcan ships, but had trouble turning at high warp speed, thus making it impractical for exploration where sudden course changes would have to be made. It was considered a technological dead-end in Earth Starship Design. An updated version of the common paintings of this design is the January image in the calendar. The artwork was composed by artist Mark Rademaker.