NASA Unveils Enterprise, the First Space Shuttle

First reported Thu, 17 Sep 2026 15:22:42 GMT · Last updated Sat, 19 Sep 2026 13:23:58 GMT

The rollout ceremony for NASA’s first space shuttle, OV-101, coincided with Constitution Day of the nation’s bicentennial on Sept.17, 1976. Although the orbiter was originally planned to be named Constitution, Star Trek fans successfully convinced President Gerald Ford to name it Enterprise after the series’ fictional starship. NASA Fifty years ago, on Sept. 17, 1976—Constitution Day of America’s bicentennial year—NASA unveiled its first space shuttle orbiter, OV-101, to the public. NASA had originally planned to name the vehicle Constitution, but a letter-writing campaign changed the agency’s plans. Nearly 100,000 fans of the Star Trek television series wrote the White House urging that the shuttle be named after the USS Enterprise, the fictional starship featured in the series. In a memo, President Gerald Ford directed NASA to christen the shuttle Enterprise saying he was “partial to the name”. The name Enterprise, long celebrated in U.S. naval history, had earlier been bestowed on the first nuclear-powered carrier, a World War II carrier, and an American vessel of the Revolutionary War. Hundreds of invited guests attended the rollout ceremony at Rockwell’s Palmdale facility in s