Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional spacecraft, some of which are the main craft and setting for various television series and films in the Star Trek science fiction franchise.
Did you know that the Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) was named after the fictional starship featured in the television series “Star Trek”? According to documents generously provided by the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, the space shuttle was so-named in part because of a huge public letter writing campaign requesting the name. The formal request to name the shuttle Enterprise reads:
“NASA has received hundreds of thousands of letters from the space-oriented “Star Trek” group asking that the name Enterprise be given to the craft. This group comprises millions of individuals who are deeply interested in our space program.”
President Gerald Ford’s “Remarks Dedicating the First Space Shuttle as Enterprise, dated September 8th, 1976, speak more about the importance of naming the shuttle, saying
“…A great many people have written to me in recent months, suggesting one name in particular for this spaceship, which will carry us not only into space but into the future.
It is a distinguished name in American naval history, with a long tradition of courage and endurance. It is also a name familiar to millions of faithful followers of the science fiction television program “Star Trek”. To explore the frontiers of space, there is no better ship than the space shuttle, and no better name for that ship than the Enterprise.”