Thought I would share a photo I ran across a few days ago…
This picture was taken on September 17, 1976, at the dedication ceremony of the U.S.S., whoops, I mean the Space Shuttle Enterprise, NASA’s prototype for the recently-wrapped-up shuttle program. Those of you who are Star Trek fans will of course recognize the majority of the “original crew” here, as well as Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, along with NASA Administrator Dr. James D. Fletcher (left).
In case you weren’t around on Planet Earth at the time, this was BIG news. Not only for NASA, and those of us interested in the future of the space program — which had heretofore ended with Apollo 17, the last manned flight to the moon, in 1972 — but also for Star Trek fans, as we were in the middle of the ten-year hiatus between the cancellation of the original series, and the premiere of the first motion picture, which wouldn’t take place until 1979.
Oddly enough, this Enterprise never actually flew in space. It was designed to test re-entry systems, and made several flights after being hauled aloft on the back of a Boeing 747 specifically adapted to the task. The overall design of the shuttle underwent subtle changes to reflect these real-world tests, and although these changes were applied to the ships that eventually went into orbit, they were never retro-fitted to the Enterprise. Today, this space program icon resides at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
Not that this photo has anything in particular to do with web design, but I find it amazing that so much of the “imagined technology” from the original Star Trek series is actually around today. Communicators (cellphones/smartphones), touch pads (iPads and tablets), and so on. Heck, some of the tech, such as floppy disk storage, has already come and gone! Hard to say what the next 30 to 40 years will bring, but personally I’m waiting for the transporter…