Test Program
Upon the orbiter's entry into service, NASA began an extensive program of tests using Enterprise to ensure all of the systems it had put in place for the shuttle project functioned as designed. These tests would encompass not only the flight tests planned to test the characteristics of the orbiter, but also ground based testing of the launch pad systems and procedures. In January 1977, Enterprise was taken by road from the Rockwell plant at Palmdale, California to the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base to begin the flight test phase of the program, which had been christened by NASA as the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT).
Read more about this topic: Approach And Landing Tests
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