Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) (New York City, New York)

 NASA, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, spacecraft on display

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The Space Shuttle Enterprise (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-101) was the first Space Shuttle built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program. Designed as a prototype for future Space Shuttles, Enterprise was built was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight. Rolled out of Rockwell's Palmdale, California Plant on September 17, 1976, Enterprise began extensive testing and evaluations of her onboard flight control systems as part of the Approach and Landing Tests, first mated to NASA's heaviliy modified 747-based Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) and then making her first solo flight in August of 1977.

Four more solo flights were conducted at Edwards Air Force Base though 1978, after which the Enterprise was flown aboard the SCA to the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Alabama where she was used in the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Test (MGVT) program. These tests marked the first time that a Space Shuttle was mated together with the External Tank and two Solid Rocket Boosters in a full launch configuration, and during the subsequent year the entire assembly were exposed to a punishing series of vibration tests simulating as closely as possible those expected during various phases of a real-world launch.

With the MGVT testing completed in 1979, Enterprise was due to be flown back to Palmdale aboard the SCA and returned to her manufacturer for a complete overhaul which would make her spaceflight-capable, but NASA elected to put its money towards building new orbiters from scratch incorporating design changes from Enterprise's testing period rather than the extensive refit Enterprise would have required. Flown instead to the Kennedy Space Center for further testing and evaluations, the Enterprise was again put into a full launch configuration and conducted a series of fit checks of the facilities at the KSC and Launch Pad 39A through October of 1979. With no future assignments, NASA "retired" Enterprise back to Rockwell's facility in Palmdale, where she was partially disassembled and parted out to support the construction of other Space Shuttles.

Returning to NASA tasking in 1981, Enterprise was reassembled and moved to the Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base and was futher used for Shuttle system fit testing at Vandenburg Air Force Base and also embarked on a multi-nation, multi-state tour in 1983 and 1984 before being retired once again in 1985 and formally donated by NASA to the Smithsonian Institution. Stored in a hangar at Dulles International Airport and eventually given a full restoration, the Enterprise went on public display as the centerpiece of the Space Collection at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Remaining at her post through 2011, Enterprise was transferred to the ownership of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on December 12, 2011, her place in Washington assumed by Space Shuttle Discovery, and was flown for the last time on the SCA from Dulles to JFK on April 27, 2012. Installed aboard the USS Intrepid's Stern from a barge on June 6th, 2012, the Enterprise opened to the public on July 19, 2012.