On This Day in Aviation History: The Space Shuttle Enterprise

America’s lead in space continued after the Apollo program ended with the advent of our Space Shuttle Program. And now commercial space flight (SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn astronauts splashed down last week making history with the first commercial space walk and the public-private venture between commercial space companies and the US government) is continuing America’s lead. 

But let’s focus on the venerable Space Shuttle for this aviation history vignette.

According to History.com, today on September 17, 1976, “NASA publicly unveiled its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California. Development of the aircraft-like spacecraft cost almost $10 billion and took nearly a decade. In 1977, the Enterprise became the first space shuttle to fly freely when it was lifted to a height of 25,000 feet by a Boeing 747 airplane and then released, gliding back to Edwards Air Force Base on its own accord.

Enterprise Launching.  Courtesy, NASA.

“Regular flights of the space shuttle began on April 12, 1981, with the launching of Columbia from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and an external tank, only the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth. When the two-day mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider at California’s Edwards Air Force Base.

“Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments. On January 28, 1986, NASA and the space shuttle program suffered a major setback when the Challenger exploded 74 seconds after takeoff and all seven people aboard were killed.

“In September 1988, space shuttle flights resumed with the successful launching of the Discovery. Since then, the space shuttle has carried out numerous important missions, such as the repair and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope and the construction and manning of the International Space Station. A tragedy in space again rocked the nation on February 1, 2003, when Columbia, on its 28th mission, disintegrated during re-entry of the earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts aboard were killed. In the aftermath, the space-shuttle program was grounded until Discovery returned to space in July 2005, amid concerns that the problems that had downed Columbia had not yet been fully solved. NASA’s final space shuttle mission came to an end in July, 2011.”

Despite the tragic mishaps and deaths during the Space Shuttle Program, the program “kept on keeping on”, testament to American’s persistence and grit, even in the face of missteps and heartbreak.

Onward and upward!

Sources:  History.com and NASA