On this day in 1976, NASA unveiled the first space shuttle. The Enterprise was an experimental craft that performed flight tests for the orbiter, validating the design and ensuring that ground facilities fit with the new craft.
The picture below shows Enterprise’s first free flight on August 12, 1977. The dramatic moment of separation from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-100, was a crucial milestone of the Shuttle program.
Unlike the fictional USS Enterprise, the Shuttle Enterprise never flew in space. (I wish this was the case, but alas, maybe SpaceX or Boeing will name one of their capsules Enterprise.)
Initially, the Enterprise was going to be named Constitution, as part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations, but obviously, that didn’t happen.
The unveiling was notable because all of the original series cast, save for William Shatner, was present on what looked like a beautiful, sunny Southern California day. (Take a peek at Carl Sagan in the background, let me know if you find him!)
If you’d like to find out more about the Enterprise and the history of ships that bore the name, check out Episode 90 of The Space Shot. Also, consider passing this email on to friends and family so they can get cool content like this delivered right to their inbox.
Listen to the podcast here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-space-shot/id1238688386#episodeGuid=0db9f3be-6f07-4c7b-94bc-01f868c1634a
(I’m hoping Substack adds support for podcast embedding so that you can play the episode right from this email.) 🤞
I’ll catch you on the flip side!