How Star Trek fans renamed NASA’s first shuttle

On September 17, 1976, NASA rolled out its first space shuttle orbiter, OV‑101, at Rockwell’s Palmdale plant. The vehicle was slated to be called Constitution, but a fan campaign of nearly 100,000 Star Trek viewers persuaded President Gerald Ford to rename it Enterprise. The ceremony drew the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry and the main cast, linking a fictional starship to a real test vehicle that would later prove the shuttle’s aerodynamic design.