NASA: "Star Trek" crew met the real Shuttle Enterprise

From left to right they are: NASA Administrator Dr. James D. Fletcher; DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. "Bones" McCoy on the series; George Takei (Mr. Sulu); James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott); Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura); Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock); series creator Gene Rodenberry; an unnamed NASA official; and, Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov).

When NASA rolled out its Space Shuttle Enterprise in 1976 it was met by not only NASA dignitaries, but also some of the cast from the "Star Trek" television series.

According to NASA, there was a good reason for the Star Trek folks to be there.

That's because Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle, was originally to be named Constitution (in honor of the U.S. Constitution's Bicentennial that year).

However, Star Trek viewers started a write-in campaign urging the White House to select the name Enterprise. The rest is history.