Just wondering as an aussie fan,how many americans being the Smithsonian museum to see the model of the enterprise?,i read somewhere the model isn't the actual one used in the series.
The ENTERPRISE
- Thread starter Mr Pointy Ears
- Start date
Unfortunately I've never been there, but to my understanding it is indeed the one used in the TOS.
It's the real deal, but it's been restored several times.
I visited the NASM in 1982, when I was 16, and saw the Enterprise model on display there. I recall being in awe of it, the same way I was in awe of The Spirit of St Louis and the Wright Flyer and the Mercury capsule that was on display,
When I first saw it in the 80s, it was suspended from the ceiling and you could go up a staircase and see it from various angles. It looked pretty bad the first time I saw it, the nacelle domes were blinking on and off like there was a single bulb in each one. I saw it twice more after that, and they eventually had some lighting effect closer to the series. It was still a marvel to look at though, and I stared at it for 15 minutes that first time.
It was definitely the original miniature, the port side was unfinished when I first saw it.
It was definitely the original miniature, the port side was unfinished when I first saw it.
Last edited:
As Hober Mallow says, it's the real thing, but it's been given its fair share of nips, tucks and new licks of paint over the years to keep it looking pristine. Whether this ruins the magic or not is up to the individual and is quite a controversial subject, but seeing "her" right there in front of me for real certainly still gave me a warm glow, no matter how much recent restoration she'd been given. 
What?! They found it? When? Where? How did I miss this news?
I heard that it got chucked into the Roddenberry's swimming pool, and hasn't been seen since. Which makes the Enterprise hiding under water in STID kind of ironic.
And that's where she still was, as of about 2 years ago when we went. Nice to see, but honestly I found the real space shuttle of the same name at the Udzy Center to be much more impressive - and I feel like that's only right, really.
Yes, I do - OV101 was only used to test landing. But we've seen Discovery, too. And really, NONE of them are real (as in, working and capable of getting into space) space shuttles anymore, are they? :/
Enterprise was never capable of space launch. The others are real in that they actually did function as space shuttles.
I always felt cheated that the campaign to get the first shuttle named Enterprise was basically cheated by NASA naming ov101, a non functional test platform.
This isn't entirely true. She just would have needed a refit. Which is kind of appropriate for the Enterprise at that time, no?
But unfortunately, they just mothballed her - although they did consider a refit again after Challenger.But, she served her purpose in working out some of the bugs in the shuttles before Columbia went up, and her existence aided in determining what went wrong with Columbia, too. A fairly noble service record for a space ship that never spaced.
I hope NASA has the sense to use the positive publicity available for naming the next gen of spacecraft, and we can have an Enterprise (and maybe even a Serenity) that makes it out of atmo this time.
OK,did any one take photos of the enterprise,i would love to see some please.
These aren't mine (can't locate them at the moment), but here you go.
I have dozens of slides from my 1982 visit....somewhere....I might even find them again someday.
You can do a Google or Yahoo search and find some, I just did.
Similar threads
