The Shuttle Enterprise rolls out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities with Star Trek television cast members. From left to right theyare: Dr. James C. Fletcher (NASA Administrator), DeForest Kelley (Dr. "Bones" McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (the indefatigable Mr. Spock), Gene Roddenberry (The Great Bird of the Galaxy), Democratic Congressman Don Fuqua, and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov).Taken 17 September 1976.
Construction began on Enterprise on June 4, 1974. Designated OV-101, it was originally planned to be named 'Constitution' and unveiled on Constitution Day, September 17, 1976. Fans of Star Trek asked US President Gerald Ford, through aletter-writing campaign, to name the orbiter after the television show's fictional starship, USS Enterprise. White House advisors cited "hundreds of thousands of letters" from Trekkies, "one of the most dedicated constituencies in the country", as a reasonfor giving the shuttle the name. Although Ford did not publicly mention the campaign, the president said that he was "partial to the name"Enterprise, and directed NASA officials to change the name.
