The Explorers' Club, № DCCCXLI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 45th Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Enterprise
17 September 1976: The Space Shuttle Enterprise OV-101 rolled out of the North American Rockwell factory in Palmdale, California; she was used for the Approach & Landing Tests (1977) & the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Tests (1978), et al.; the Enterprise was originally intended to be converted into a functional Orbiter, but this was later discovered to be cost prohibitive & she never flew in space.

Commentary: The Enterprise was originally named the Constitution; 17 September is Constitution Day, a holiday commemorating the signing of the United States Constitution on 17 September 1787. A letter-writing campaign by nerds known as "Trekkies" resulting in President Gerald Ford directing N.A.S.A. to rename the OV-101 Enterprise. I am a Trekkie & yet I dislike this decision for two reasons: One, it strikes me as awfully unpatriotic, especially in the Bicentennial Year, to prize honoring a fictional starship over honoring the Constitution; & two, the Enterprise never flew in space, but because the name had already been used, there was no possibility of pressuring N.A.S.A. into naming a later spaceflight capable Orbiter Enterprise.

Also, 17 September is Constitution Day, a fine day to roll out a craft named Constitution, but once the Enterprise was renamed, she ought to have rolled out on 8 September 1976, the tenth anniversary of the debut of "The Man Trap," the first televised episode of Star Trek.

It's kind of wild to think that only ten years passed between Pete Conrad's & Dick Gordon's Gemini XI flight & the rollout of the first Space Shuttle. Sure, the Shuttle wouldn't actually fly for another five years, not 'til 1981, but still, only ten years between a two-man capsule that was originally Mercury Mk. II & the gargantuan spaceplane that would define American crewed spaceflight for three decades.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: The Space Shuttle Enterprise
James Horner, "Enterprise Clears Moorings" from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.