June 3, 2019 - Nuts and Bolts

Nuts and Bolts Years of theoretical design and planning gave way to actual fabrication 45 years ago this week when construction began on the first space shuttle, Enterprise. In less than two years construction was completed, and by early 1977 Enterprise, which was never intended to fly in space, began nine months of approach and landing tests to prove that it could fly in the atmosphere and land like a glider. Carried aloft by a modified 747, Enterprise completed a series of increasingly challenging flights, ranging from taxi tests, to captive flights with an aerodynamic tail cone (above), to free-flights. Enterprise was also used in vibration ground tests and launch pad fit checks, and in the early 1980s it appeared at many air shows around the world. Since 2012 it has been on display in New York City.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

June 3 - 9, 2019

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 3

New Moon 6:02 AM ET

1948: 200-inch Hale telescope dedicated
1965: Gemini IV launched; Ed White takes America’s first space walk
1966: Gemini IX launched
2017: SpaceX CRS-10 launched, first flight to ISS of previously flown Dragon capsule

Tuesday 4

Mercury 4° north of Moon

1971: Last X-24A lifting body flight
1974: Construction begins on space shuttle Enterprise
2000: Compton Gamma Ray Observatory reenters atmosphere

Wednesday 5

Mars 1.6° north of Moon

1819: John Couch Adams born
1989: Voyager 2 begins regular observations of Neptune
1991: STS-40 Columbia launched
2002: STS-111 Endeavour launched

Thursday 6

1932: Dave Scott born
1971: Soyuz 11 launched, first crew to occupy Salyut 1 space station
1983: Venera 16 launched
2018: Soyuz MS-09 launched carrying ISS Expedition 56/57 crew