Enterprise
Orbiter OV-101
See also
Space Transportation System and
space shuttle
This orbiter is currently inactive.
Entered service in 1977 (test vehicle only, never launched).
Transferred to
Smithsonian Institution in 1985.
Used for landing braking net tests in 1987.
Currently awaiting display in the
National Air and Space Museum Annex.
Flights:
Taxi Tests:
1 02/15/77
2 02/15/77
3 02/15/77
Captive-Inactive Flights:
4 02/18/77
5 02/22/77
6 02/25/77
7 02/28/77
8 03/02/77
Captive-Active Flights:
9 06/18/77
10 06/28/77
11 07/26/77
Free Flights:
12 08/12/77
13 09/13/77
14 09/23/77
15 10/12/77
16 10/26/77
Originally intended to be named "
Constitution" (in honor of the bicentennial of the
U.S. constitution), the Enterprise was so named because of a letter writing campaign launched by fans of the television series "
Star Trek".
Paramount Pictures made use of the name change to hype their new film,
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, even adding a scene at the last minute in which featured a wall of pictures of former ships named "Enterprise". OV-101 is, of course, among them.
From February 1977 through November 1977, Enterprise was used for approach and landing tests at the
Dryden Flight Research Facility. These extensive tests demonstrated that the
orbiter could fly in the
atmosphere and land like an
airplane. The Enterprise was carried aloft by a converted
747 and released. This same system (having the
orbiter ride
piggy-back style on a 747) is currently used to transport
orbiters between missions.
Two NASA
astronaut crews - Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton and Joe Engle and Dick Truly - flew the Enterprise during tests. The tests involved several stages, including
runway tests of the
747's mated configuration
integrity, flight tests where the orbiter remained mated to the
747, and finally free-flight and landing tests in which the Enterprise was released from the
747 during flight. Later, the
orbiter was used for ground
vibration tests, and eventually mated to the
Solid Rocket Boosters and
External Tank for tests and launch complex practices.
The rest of the orbiter fleet:
Columbia *
Challenger *
Discovery *
Atlantis *
Endeavour