Re: Star Trek TOS retouched - and question

In article <v6e8g2l7p20rsh08v8obr2b4l9jmth6brq@xxxxxxx>,
Brian Thorn <bthorn64@xxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 08:43:03 -0700, Anim8rFSK <ANIM8Rfsk@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

Just look from a distance. Keep in mind that there isn't much inside
Enterprise. Most useful hardware inside was taken out and installed in
Challenger when NASA decided to change its plans and upgrade
Challenger (originally only a structural test article) into a full
Shuttle instead of Enterprise.

oh well. I thought they might have stuck one of the mock up cockpits in
it or something. Let you kick the tires and get a photo op. :-)

I fully expect Discovery will take Enterprise's place there when the
Shuttle program ends in 2010. There will be a lot more to see inside
if they do, although getting people inside might be a little difficult
(the hatch isn't very big.)

I was picturing more like an exterior stairwell that lets you look in
the windows.

I'd like to see Discovery in Enterprise's
place, with cargo doors open and that Hubble Space Telescope mockup
(from the main museum) hung directly above it, with Discovery's robot
arm reaching up to grab it.

That'd be nice. Is Enterprise inside?

If the stupid Trekkies had left well enough alone, it would be the
Constitution sitting there, and the Constitution class orbiter
Enterprise would have flown in space. Sigh.

Well, at the time the Trekkies were right. Enterprise *was* supposed
to fly in space... a couple of years behind Columbia (which was always
planned to be the first to go into space.) It was the long delays
caused by Main Engine and heat shield tile troubles that gave NASA a
chance to reconsider and upgrade Challenger instead.

nah, the Trekkies were always wrong. Clearly somebody at NASA was a
Trek fan -- there's no way the first one was named CONSTITUTION and a
later ENTERPRISE by accident. Even if Enterprise had flown, there was
nothing to be gained by it being first. Would have been cool if the
entire fleet was named after constitution class ships though. :-)

What I've never been clear on though is why they dropped the namem
Constitution when they did the shuttle shuffle. Or for that matter
where the name 'Atlantis' came from.
.

Relevant Pages