#Space shuttle enterprise launch date upgrade
#Space shuttle enterprise launch date full
#Space shuttle enterprise launch date series

They constructed fourteen models in total. The Artisan prop and model shop of Quantum Mechanix, QMx FX Cinema Arts, was asked to illustrate the history of space flight with models for the 2013 Into Darkness film. The footage shows the orbiter's name on the forward fuselage under the cockpit windows, where the operational shuttles had their names painted Enterprise had her name painted on the payload bay doors just above the hinge and behind the crew module, where it remains to this day. 372))įootage of the shuttle Enterprise included in the montage of historic images shown during the opening credits for Star Trek: Enterprise is actually one of the later shuttles with the name Enterprise digitally inserted. The art department staff made one minor alteration on the model changing the name of the shuttle to bear that of the Enterprise, even though, as stated, that orbiter never made it into into space in real life.

#Space shuttle enterprise launch date series

Ī model of a space shuttle docked with the International Space Station was given to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series as a gift by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, where it served as a desktop model in Benjamin Sisko's office. Enterprise was again considered for modification after Challenger was lost, but it was cheaper and easier to build Endeavour (OV-105) out of structural spares. However, changes to the final design and advances in materials technology in the interim made this too costly an existing structural test article was used instead to build the shuttle Challenger (OV-099).

#Space shuttle enterprise launch date upgrade

In the real world, Enterprise (OV-101) was not built to be spaceworthy, and was meant only for atmospheric tests, although NASA intended to upgrade the vehicle for space flight after the test program ended. 94 Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue SP11, p. ( The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. I'll leave it to you where you want it on the vessel and who should design it.' Jefferies, the accomplished aviation artist, needed no further enticement to create the artwork for the historical vessels named USS Enterprise, that served as the source for the by Rick Sternbach created backlit transparencies, including that of the OV-101, ultimately seen on the wall of the recreation deck in Phase II's 1979 successor, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It also has publicity advantages if properly released at the right time. 285-286)Īs serendipity would have it, Jefferies, who was working on Star Trek: Phase II at the time, received a memo less than a month later, on 9 September 1977, from Roddenberry who, inspired by a letter he had received from a fan, wrote, ' Some fans have suggested that our new Enterprise should carry a plaque somewhere which commemorates the fact it was named after the first space shuttle launched from Earth in the 1970's. 7: Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 9, pp. 84-88, et al.) Not invited for the event was the original designer of the fictional ship, Matt Jefferies, but he was present, invited by NASA as guest of honor, at the first free-flight test of the shuttle on 12 August 1977. When the Enterprise was unveiled on 17 September, 1976, at Rockwell's plant at Palmdale, California, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and most of the principal cast of the Star Trek: The Original Series were on hand at the highly publicized dedication ceremony as guests of honor in recognition of its fictional namesake. However, a massive fan letter campaign organized by Bjo Trimble produced over 200,000 letters asking President Gerald Ford to name the shuttle Enterprise after the Star Trek starship (which, coincidentally, is Constitution-class) instead. The first space shuttle was originally supposed to be named Constitution, in honor of the United States' bicentennial celebrations in 1976.

The cast of TOS in front of the Enterprise

#Space shuttle enterprise launch date full

Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's National Air and Space Museum from December 2003 until April 2012, and now makes its home at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City Leonard Nimoy, who befittingly came full circle, as he was also present at the unveil of the orbiter thirty-six years earlier, attended and spoke at the arrival ceremony. She was used primarily to verify the performance of the Space Shuttle Orbiter design during final approach and landing and never flew in space. A model of the space shuttle Enterprise Pre-warp ships EnterpriseĪppendices Background information Įnterprise was a prototype/test vehicle for Earth's first reusable spacecraft, dubbed Space Shuttle.