1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 31

  Upon doing research for today's article, I found a photograph and an article that answered a long-standing mystery I've had: Whatever happened to the space shuttle Enterprise?

Art Rogers, 1977.

   I came across the above photograph taken by the Los Angeles Times on January 31, 1977. It shows a rider on a horse looking on as the Enterprise is being towed to Edwards Air Force Base. Just a few months earlier, the shuttle was in Palmdale, where members of the Starship Enterprise from the cult classic series Star Trek were on hard for the christening. 

Actors from the original Star Trek TV series
on hand for the Enterprise's debut. Sept. 1976.

     The idea behind the space shuttle was that NASA could finally have a reusable ship instead of having to build a new module for their space missions. Fans of Star Trek wrote in by the thousands and demanded that the first shuttle be named after the ship used by Capt. Kirk, Spock, and Scotty. So, if the Enterprise was the first space shuttle, was was the Columbia the first shuttle to be flown into space?

Another space shuttle Enterprise mystery:
Why wasn't it on the wall of the Enterprise D conference room?

    Well, thanks to this photo and article, I finally got my answer: the Enterprise was never used for actual missions! Instead, while as Edwards, the Enterprise was used as a prototype for heat shield testing. Enterprise also wasn't equipped with actual rocket engines. But that doesn't mean that the Enterprise never got off the ground. At least 3 times in 1977, the Enterprise was used to practice free flight and landing procedures. Sadly, it just never entered the stratosphere.

Aerial photo of the Enterprise during on of it's
free flight missions in 1977.

    Today, the Enterprise is housed at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City.  It's permanently been retired and will probably never fly since NASA grounded the Space Shuttle program just a few years ago. But it's viewed by hundreds daily and hopefully continues to inspire the next generation of astronauts and space explorers. Who knows, maybe the next generation of space vehicles will carry on the Enterprise name.

The Enterprise being towed to it's latest home,
the Intrepid Museum.

      Well, today's journey to 1977 didn't commemorate anything special or particularly noteworthy. But I did solve a mystery that I've wondered about for years. Hey, that's just part of the fun of A Madman Turns 40...

The Enterprise today.

      Live Long and Prosper!