NASA’s first space shuttle<\/a> orbiter, OV-101 or “Enterprise<\/a>,” made its debut 50 years ago today (Sept. 17). Though only a prototype used for atmospheric and ground tests, Enterprise proved that a spacecraft could launch like a rocket<\/a> and land as a glider, enabling the world’s first reusable orbital platform.<\/p>\n Enterprise became a museum piece in 1985. Twenty-six years later, the three-surviving space-worthy orbiters followed, permanently landing in institutions<\/a> on both U.S. coasts. Hathaway did not become an astronaut until a decade after that.<\/p>\n “It was definitely one of my goals to be able to fly something like it someday, and didn’t quite make it. Maybe [had I] been a couple years older I would have, but I look back at it and it was pretty awesome,” said Hathaway on Wednesday (Sep. 16), taking part in a press conference from on board the International Space Station<\/a>. “It built this space station, which [people] have inhabited now for over 25 years, which is pretty awesome.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n “We’re thankful for the people that flew the space shuttle who came before us,” he said.<\/p>\n ‘A great day’<\/p>\n “Would you now roll out orbiter 101, now christened the ‘Enterprise,'” directed Jim Fletcher, then the NASA administrator, on Sept. 17, 1976, as he stood before an audience outside the vehicle’s manufacturing plant in Palmdale, California.<\/p>\n As the crowd caught its first glimpses of the now familiar black-and-white winged spacecraft, a marching band performed the theme to “Star Trek<\/a>.” Most of the TV show’s primary cast were there as NASA’s invited guests. OV-101 was originally going to be named the “Constitution” before a grassroots letter writing campaign convinced the government to name its first space shuttle after the show’s fictional starship<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We are on the verge of a new era,” said Barry Goldwater, the then-ranking minority member of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Aeronautics and Space Sciences. “As we witness today the rollout of the space shuttle, we are on the verge of a new era, not only in spaceflight, but in the lives of men and women and children all across this Earth<\/a>.”<\/p>\n “I submit that the space shuttle will present us with a remarkable opportunity to exploit the new frontier of space for the benefit of all mankind and to continue to expand our knowledge of the space environment in which we live,” he said.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n “What a great day that was in 1976!” recalled Star Trek’s Spock, actor Leonard Nimoy, as the Enterprise arrived in New York for its display at the Intrepid Museum<\/a> in 2012. “It was a great day for America, a great day for us to be connected to that history.”<\/p>\n \n NASA’s prototype space shuttle Enterprise with cast members from the “Star Trek” television series during the vehicle’s first rollout on Sept. 17, 1976. (Image credit: NASA)An inspiration<\/p>\n NASA astronaut Jessica Meir was born 10 months after Enterprise’s reveal. Like Hathaway, her Expedition 74 and SpaceX Crew-12<\/a> crewmate, she grew up watching the space shuttle fly.<\/p>\n “I do think that the space shuttle program had a huge part in inspiring me,” she said from on board the ISS in response to a question from collectSPACE<\/a>. “When people ask me what made me want to be an astronaut, you know, there wasn’t one moment that I describe, but I very vividly recall in the classrooms [watching] space shuttle launches.”<\/p>\n![\"Space\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/dpnbewsyjn1783958986.svg\")
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