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The U.S. Space Shuttle program started with the awarding of the contract to Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division. The first Space Shuttle was designated OV-101 and named Constitution making its public appearance on Constitution Day, September 17, 1976. After hundreds of thousands of letters from Star Trek fans the name was changed to Enterprise. On February 18, 1977 the craft completed its first captive flight followed on June 18, 1977 by the first crewed captive flight. On August 12, 1977 the Enterprise completed its first free flight and on October 26, 1977 astronauts Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton completed approach and landing test flight at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB. From 1985 to 2003, Enterprise was stored at the Smithsonian's hangar at Washington Dulles International Airport before it was restored and moved to the Smithsonian's newly built National Air and Space Museum, where it was the centerpiece of the space collection. On April 12, 2011, NASA announced that Discovery, the most traveled orbiter in the fleet, would replace Enterprise in the Smithsonian's collection, with ownership of Enterprise transferred to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City. Enterprise went on public display in New York on July 19, 2012. |