Stardate September 17, 1976. These are the voyages of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Its mission: to perform test flights in the atmosphere. Which it didn't actually manage because it was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight. So it never actually got to leave the atmosphere, despite being the first NASA space shuttle, and instead acted as the basic framework around which the doomed Challenger ship was based. Which you might not have known in the first place, but you definitely didn't know that it was originally planned to be named Constitution and unveiled on Constitution Day, until a letter-writing campaign by a certain group of dedicated nerds changed all that. Star Trek fans petitioned then-US President Gerald Ford to ask that the shuttle be named after the Starship Enterprise, because of course they did. Ford didn't cop to being influenced by the campaign but admitted he was "partial to the name", and directed NASA officials to drop the Constitution moniker. When the orbiter was unveiled to the public on September 17, 1976, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and most of the show's original cast turned up for the dedication ceremony. And probably be massively underwhelmed that this Enterprise not only wouldn't be exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, or boldly going where no man has gone before, but it was lucky to even get out of the factory.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
