NASA Unveils Enterprise, the First Space Shuttle
Fifty years ago, on Sept. 17, 1976—Constitution Day of America’s bicentennial year—NASA unveiled its first space shuttle orbiter, OV-101, to the public. NASA had originally planned to name the vehicle Constitution, but a letter-writing campaign changed the agency’s plans. Nearly 100,000 fans of the Star Trek television series wrote the White House urging that the […] The post NASA Unveils…
On Sept. 17, 1976, marking Constitution Day and the bicentennial of the United States, NASA revealed its inaugural space shuttle, OV-101, to the general public. Originally intended to be christened Constitution, a last-minute surge of support from Star Trek enthusiasts secured the shuttle a different moniker. A letter-writing campaign, spearheaded by the show's fervent fanbase, prompted President Gerald Ford to endorse the name Enterprise, the fictional starship from the popular series.
President Ford himself expressed a preference for this name, leading to the shuttle's final name. The unveiling took place at Rockwell's Palmdale facility in California, a venue attended by luminaries including Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry and multiple cast members. These included NASA's Administrator James C. Fletcher, actors DeForest Kelley, George Takei, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, Leonard Nimoy, and Ensign Chekov's actor Walter Koenig.
The Enterprise, while not equipped for actual space travel, paved the way for the shuttle program's first extraterrestrial missions in 1981. Today, the orbiter stands as a testament to human ingenuity at the Intrepid Museum in New York City.
Written by urgent.news from NASA Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
