Should the 1st shuttle really be called Enterprise in Trek?

[Apophis]

This is kind of a silly nitpick, but should the first space shuttle really be called Enterprise in the TrekVerse?

For those who don't know, the original name of OV-101 was to be Constitution*. A write-in campaign from Star Trek fans convinced NASA to rename the shuttle after the Starship Enterprise.

Now, assuming there was no show called Star Trek in it's own fictional past, what reason would NASA have had to name the orbiter any thing other than what it had planned originally?



*Interesting coincidence - given that the 1701 was a Constitution-Class starship thus linking these two names well before the shuttle program existed.

 

[Chrisisall]

The write in campaign was to keep the events of naming unfolding in the time stream as they should. Too simple a question, really.

 

[Apophis]

The write in campaign was to keep the events of naming unfolding in the time stream as they should. Too simple a question, really.

?

We live in a real universe, Star Trek is fiction. Your post inverts that. You're suggesting that people wrote in to change an event in reality to conform to a fictional event that hadn't even been described yet in said fictional universe?

I realize your reply was not serious, but it is a wacky brain-bender nonetheless!

 

[C.E. Evans]

We could say the first shuttle was named Enterprise because the word meant "a bold venture forward."

 

[Apophis]

We could say the first shuttle was named Enterprise because the word meant "a bold venture forward."

The name is entirely appropriate. No argument there.

I was just reading about the shuttle program on Wikipedia because of the current Atlantis mission (being it's last) and followed the link to the Enterprise page. I knew the story of the write-in, but reading it again the thought occurred to me that it would be unexplained in the Trek-verse as to why the name changed.

 

[Chrisisall]

but reading it again the thought occurred to me that it would be unexplained in the Trek-verse as to why the name changed.

It didn't, that's the point!

 

[The Wormhole]

This is simple: in Trek's fictional past, the shuttle was always going to be named Enterprise anyway, and Constitution was never considered.

After all, not everything in Trek's fictional past lines up with reality. Take the Eugenics Wars for example.

 

[Chrisisall]

Take the Eugenics Wars for example.

You missed that? I mean, it WAS covered up pretty well and all...the whole 'Gulf War' thing...

 

[Therin of Andor]

what reason would NASA have had to name the orbiter any thing other than what it had planned originally?

Maybe they named it after the sea-faring Enterprises (and Enterprize) as shown in ST IV, Generations and ENT.

The NASA shuttlecraft Enterprise finally makes a spaceflight in "The Lost Years Saga" ST novel, "A Flag Full of Stars" by Brad Ferguson.

 

[diankra]

This is simple: in Trek's fictional past, the shuttle was always going to be named Enterprise anyway, and Constitution was never considered.

After all, not everything in Trek's fictional past lines up with reality. Take the Eugenics Wars for example.

And OV101 was going to be called Constitution because its roll-out was planned for 1976 - the 200th anniversary of the US. So if it happened a year earlier or later in the Trek universe, then the name wouldn't have had the same resonance and might not have been suggested.