Approach and Landing Tests

The Approach and Landing Tests were a series of sixteen taxi and flight trials of the prototypeSpace ShuttleEnterprise that took place between February and October 1977 to test the vehicle's flight characteristics. Of the sixteen taxi-tests and flights, eleven saw Enterprise remain mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), while the final five had the shuttle separate from the SCA, with the on-board crew flying and landing the spacecraft.