Space Shuttle prototype testing. Prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise just after release from its 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) on a test flight ba
Space Shuttle prototype testing. Prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise just after release from its 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) on a test flight back to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, California, USA. A tail cone smoothed turbulent airflow. With a crew of two (Joe Engle and Richard Truly), this was the second of five free-flight flights in the Shuttle's Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) program. The tests prepared for the first space mission with the Space Shuttle Columbia in April 1981. The Space Shuttles flew 135 missions into low Earth orbit between 1981 and 2011. Photographed on 13 September 1977.
Size: 3613px × 2435px
Photo credit: © NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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