Fifty years ago, on Sept. 17, 1976âConstitution Day of Americaâs bicentennial yearâNASA 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 agencyâs plans. Nearly 100,000 fans of the Star Trek television series wrote the White House urging that the shuttle be named after the USS Enterprise, the fictional starship featured in the series. In a memo, President Gerald Ford directed NASA to christen the shuttle Enterprise saying he was âpartial to the nameâ. The name Enterprise, long celebrated in U.S. naval history, had earlier been bestowed on the first nuclear-powered carrier, a World War II carrier, and an American vessel of the Revolutionary War.
Hundreds of invited guests attended the rollout ceremony at Rockwellâs Palmdale facility in southern California, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and several cast members. Pictured from left to right in this photo are NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher, DeForest Kelley (Dr. âBonesâ McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery âScottyâ Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), series creator Gene Rodenberry, U.S. Rep. Don Fuqua (D.-Fla) and Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov).
Even though Enterprise was not designed to fly in space, it performed the essential atmospheric test flights that paved the way for the shuttle programâs first spaceflights in 1981. The orbiter is now on display at the Intrepid Museum in New York City.
Learn more about the historic rollout of NASAâs first space shuttle.
Credit: NASA
Source: NASA
