Click on photos for larger versions.
When the United States shuttle program started, the first shuttle, used for test flights, was called the Enterprise, and when it was unveiled, on September 17, 1976 Gene Roddenberry and the cast members from Star Trek were there, except William Shatner) .
The name earned criticism in some quarters, as "stuffed shirts" thought it brought the shuttle program into the realm of fantasy. On the other hand, many more people were disappointed to learn that the space shuttle named Enterprise was just a test vehicle, none of the actual shuttles would bear the name.
Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic has remedied that snub. This Enterprise is a spaceship, not a starship, but the honor is much appreciated among Trek fans.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/07/2143953.aspx
English billionaire Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Atlantic Airlines, is also the owner of Virgin Galactic. His SpaceShipTwo rocket plane "drew hundreds of paying space tourists and travel agents, rocket geeks and glitterati to the Mojave Air and Space Port."
See the link for the complete article.
2 comments:
Branson is English, not Australian. :)
Ooops! I don't know why I thought he was Australiam...just did.
Anyway, thanks for the correction.
Post a Comment