September 17, 2026: When Fans Renamed A Spacecraft

Podcast: bsnsHistory · bsnsBasics

Opublikowano: 2026-09-17

NASA wanted to name its first space shuttle Constitution. A woman who'd already saved a canceled TV show with 116,000 letters got a phone call asking her to do it again. On September 17, 1976, NASA rolled out its first Space Shuttle orbiter, Enterprise, at Rockwell International's facility in Palmdale, California, with the original Star Trek cast in attendance. The name change came after Bjo Trimble, who had organized the 1968 letter-writing campaign that saved Star Trek from cancellation, led a similar effort urging President Gerald Ford to rename the shuttle after the fictional starship. Over 200,000 letters later, Ford ordered the...