Space shuttle Enterprise

Never fitted with engines or a working heat shield, the Enterprise was not launched into orbit — it was only used for testing. The craft was used in a series of approach and landing tests — carried aloft in a 747, released and glided to landings at Edwards. Later the Enterprise was used for static tests in Alabama and California.

Los Angeles Times science writer George Alexander covered the public introduction of Enterprise. In the Sept. 18, 1976, edition, he reported:

To the theme music from the now-defunct television series “Star Trek,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration rolled out the first Space Shuttle vehicle at Palmdale Friday and proclaimed the start of a new era in space transportation.

“Ain’t she a beat?” said NASA Associated Administrator John F. Yardley as the big black, white and gray spaceship was towed around the corner of a hangar at Rockwell International Corp.’s Palmdale facility and brought to a halt before a crowd of about 2,000 people…

….some of the actors who appeared in the “Star Trek” series were present. President Ford recently yielded to the petitions of many “Trekkies,” as devotees of the series call themselves, and named the orbiter “Enterprise” after the fictional spaceship flown by the “Star Trek” crew.

Space agency officials had planned to name the space shuttle “Constitution” both in honor of the historic U.S. document and in honor of the early American warship, but were overruled at the last minute by President Ford.

In 1985, Enterprise was transferred to the Smithsonian Institute.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Cushing Coliseum at KSC will be transformed into a television studio Jan. 5-6 when it becomes the site of the 1974 Cerebral Palsy Celebrity Parade of Stars 20-hour telethon. Among the personalities appearing during the telecast will be Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock on “Star Trek”; Barry Williams, Greg on “The Brady Bunch”; and country-western singer Conny Van Dyke Source: thane on Flicker