First flight of Enterprise

Enterprise was the first Space Shuttle orbiter, built by NASA as a test vehicle that could glide and land but could not fly in space. It was named after the starship in the television series Star Trek, following a letter-writing campaign by fans. The first flight was in the Approach and Landing Tests, in which the orbiter was carried on the back of a modified Boeing 747, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, with no crew. Later in the tests, astronauts flew it, and it was released from the 747 to glide down to the runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California, proving the design's ability to land. Enterprise was never fitted for spaceflight, and it is displayed at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York.

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