![]() The shuttle era began when Columbia, the first shuttle to go into space, launched on April 12, 1981. Enterprise also was attached to an external tank and solid rocket boosters to test the launch configuration. Ground vibration tests were performed as Enterprise sat atop the SCA. The shuttle was fitted for future ferry flights, and measures were taken to reduce aerodynamic drag. The approach and landing tests were just one facet of the space shuttle program that needed to be examined, so after Enterprise's flights concluded, the shuttle went through more tests. NASA thought so highly of the skills of Engle and Truly that both flew the two-person second shuttle flight in space - even though both of them were rookie astronauts. That cone was removed for the last two flights to better simulate how the shuttle would behave during an actual landing. For the first three flights, Enterprise wore a tail cone to minimize drag. The crews flew the shuttle five times in 1977. After just five minutes and 21 seconds in the air, Enterprise delicately touched down on the dry lake bed around Edwards Air Force Base.įor subsequent flights, Haise and Fullerton took turns with the other approach and landing crew, who were Joe Engle and Richard Truly. The SCA released Enterprise at about 24,000 feet and quickly banked away as the shuttle took to the air for the first time. Fullerton would go on to fly in shuttle missions twice. Fred Haise, best known as a crewmember on Apollo 13, commanded the flight with Gordon Fullerton as second-in-command. On the wingĮnterprise was finally released into the air on Aug. Still, the shuttle did not leave the safety of the aircraft as everyone was focused on making sure the systems operations and the crews knew the procedures for the landing. There was no crew inside the shuttle, as these were tests to determine how the aerodynamics on the aircraft would change with a 100-ton spacecraft perched on its back.įollowing that were three flights with crew inside. Next, NASA flew the SCA five times with the shuttle on top of it. The aircraft type (known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA) would later be used to carry the shuttles between California and Florida if the shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base. First, in February 1977, the agency did some taxi tests with Enterprise perched above a modified 747 passenger aircraft. NASA tested the shuttle several times on the ground before setting it aloft. ![]() (Image credit: NASA) Preparing to take flight Enterprise underwent several weeks of fit and function checks on the pad in preparation for STS-1, on which its sister craft Columbia took astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen into space for a 54-hour test mission. The test shuttle Enterprise made its first appearance mated to supportive propellant containers and boosters as it was rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center en route to the launch pad, some 3.5 miles away, on May 1, 1979. ![]()
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