For 30 years, the Space Shuttle orbiters Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour wowed millions with their thunderous climbs to orbit, their graceful orbital dances with satellites, Hubble, MIR, and the International Space Station, and their tell-tale twin sonic booms that announced their landings back on Earth – landings that would not have been as smooth as they were if not for the help of their sister vehicle that never experienced space: OV-101 Enterprise.
OV-101 – A test vehicle for the next generation spaceship:
With NASA's new direction set, the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) was ready to begin a new era of focus on science and understanding in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
But before the first Space Shuttle mission could launch from the Kennedy Space Center, FL, a great deal of ground testing was needed to fully, and to the best possible degree, understand the flight performance of this radical new design: A reusable, winged space plane that would launch like a rocket and land as glider with no propulsive force.
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