![]() If that makes perfect sense to you, congratulations, you're a true Star Trek fan. So, in a paradoxical way, by naming a real-life shuttle after the Star Trek ship, NASA validated its plot line by providing an explanation for where the Enterprise name came from. In the "Star Trek" series, all ships were named after famous space shuttles of the past. Fletcher resisted the name change, but was overruled by the president. President Gerald Ford spoke with NASA chief James Fletcher and said, "You know, I'm a little partial to the name Enterprise." Ford did not mention the letter-writing campaign, but instead referred to the fact that he served on a Navy ship that serviced the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. ![]() ![]() The White House received somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 letters urging the name change (although some estimates go as high as 200,000). What Are The 4 Space Shuttle Names This period was marked by three orbiters going into service Columbia (the first to fly in space), Challenger, and Discovery. Trimble organized Star Trek fans in a new campaign to name the first space shuttle Enterprise instead of Constitution. There have been six Space Shuttles built (although only five of them are good enough for space): Challenger, Enterprise, Columbia, Discovery, Atlantis, and the Endeavour. Two missions ended in disaster, but a total of five different shuttles spent a collective 1289 days in space. That effort stretched the show's run into a third year. 30 years ago today the Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off on the first shuttle mission. Star Trek fan Bjo Trimble already had experience in mobilizing trekkers she had spearheaded a fan campaign to save the original Star Trek series from cancellation in 1967.
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