45 years ago, NASA's first Space Shuttle only went five miles up — and changed spaceflight forever

On August 12, 1977, NASA entered a new era with the launch of the Enterprise, a space shuttle prototype that never actually reached space. But despite falling short of even cruising altitude in a commercial jet, the entire history of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program piggybacked on the engineering breakthroughs made by this maiden ship on its first free flight.