In 1977, the Shuttle Enterprise successfully made its first free flight, a Shuttle Approach and Landing Test, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. It was launched mounted atop a Boeing 747 carrier, and separated from it in flight. Then it freely glided, on its own, in flight within the Earth's atmosphere. It touched down, landing like an airplane, on a dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert. Designated Orbiter Vehicle OV-101, it was a prototype built only for testing; it was never equipped for space flight. It was named Enterprise after the Star Trek spacecraft. After being rolled out of Rockwell's assembly facility (17 Sep 1976), it was transported 36 miles overland to Dryden (31 Jan 1977). Its first captive flight test was on 18 Feb 1977.« NASA Space Shuttle Manual: An Insight into the Design, Construction and Operation..., by David Baker. - book suggestion.