Robert April

"What a blessing to be able to live one's life over again, if the life you've led has left you unfulfilled. No Sarah, I don't want to live it all over again; I couldn't improve one bit on what we've had together."
 * - Robert April to his wife, 2270.

Robert April was perhaps most famous for his stint as the first captain of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). April was born in 2195, and later married his beloved Sarah.

During the 2240s, April oversaw the construction of components for a starship at the San Francisco Naval Yards. That vessel eventually became the USS Enterprise which April later commanded from 2245 to 2250; his wife Sarah served as his chief medical officer.

Following the end of his five-year mission, Commodore April became a respected Federation ambassador-at-large for the next twenty years, until 2270, when he was forced to retire from Starfleet. Exceptional circumstances made Starfleet consider his appeal to have his mandatory retirement rescinded. 

Background
The name Robert April originates from the first Star Trek pitch, as the name of the lead character ("Robert M. April"). On StarTrek.com and in the Star Trek Chronology, his name is listed as "Robert T. April." Prior to this, the name Robert April was used by Gene Roddenberry for a prison chaplain in two episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel. The name for the featured Enterprise captain was later changed to Christopher Pike for and then to James Tiberius Kirk for later episodes. The Star Trek Encyclopedia uses a photo of Gene Roddenberry in an early-style uniform to illustrate its entry on April, as does the Star Trek Chronology for its entry on 2245.

Unused material for Jonathan Archer's bio, featured in, stated that Archer passed away one day following the christening of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), in 2245. If canonical, it would suggest that April and Archer knew each other.

Apocrypha
In the books Final Frontier and Best Destiny, both written by Diane Carey, it was stated that Captain April was born in Coventry, UK. In addition, it was stated that James Kirk's father, George Kirk, was the First officer of the Enterprise during April's captaincy.

In the book Crisis on Vulcan, written by Brad and Barbara Strickland, Christopher Pike is April's first officer.

April made several appearances, and is often referenced, in the Star Trek: Early Voyages comic series. The first issue "Flesh of My Flesh" established that April commanded a USS Tiberius for three five-year missions prior to commanding the Enterprise and that J.M. Colt and José Tyler served under April on the Tiberius. In the same comic, April walked Christopher Pike to the Enterprise in spacedock, and in another scene set two years later it was shown that it was due to April's recommendation that Pike recruited Spock to the Enterprise crew. The fourth issue, "Nor Iron Bars a Cage", stated that April, then a commodore at Starfleet Command personally reassigned J.M. Colt to the Enterprise to take up her position as yeoman. In the final story in the Early Voyages series, presented in the comics "Nemesis" and "Thanatos", April, then an admiral, returned to the Enterprise to temporarily take command while Captain Pike conducted an undercover mission. This story was never concluded as the series was canceled. April's questionable conduct in the story might explain why he was once again a commodore in his later appearance in "The Counter-Clock Incident."

The IDW comic series Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness, set in the alternate reality, reveals that Robert April was the captain of a previous  which existed subsequent to the Enterprise (NX-01), but prior to the new USS Enterprise (alternate reality). Series consultant Roberto Orci revealed he had considered a rogue April as a villain in, which was used in the comic instead.

Issue #2 of Countdown to Darkness has April mentioning that he had been captain "going on 10 years" while in command of the previous Enterprise in 2239. This would suggest that both the and prime versions of April had achieved the rank of captain in or around 2229 since this occurred before the creation of the alternate reality.