Remember when: King Charles met NASA's space shuttle Enterprise in 1977 (video)

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The 28-year-old Charles, then a prince, greeted Enterprise and its crew after the test vehicle's final test flight in October 1977.

More than four decades ago, King Charles III got an up-close look at NASA's very first space shuttle, a test vehicle known as Enterprise.

Charles greeted Enterprise and its four-astronaut crew at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California on Oct. 26, 1977, shortly after the shuttle had completed its fifth and final "free flight" in Earth's atmosphere.

NASA gave Charles, a 28-year-old prince at the time, a commemorative photo album that day. He also scored an original watercolor by space artist Robert McCall.

Related: NASA's space shuttle program in pictures: A tribute

King Charles III, then a 28-year-old prince, met the four-person crew of NASA's space shuttle Enterprise on Oct. 26, 1977, shortly after the test vehicle completed its fifth and final "free flight" in Earth's atmosphere.

King Charles III, then a 28-year-old prince, met the four-person crew of NASA's space shuttle Enterprise on Oct. 26, 1977, shortly after the test vehicle completed its fifth and final "free flight" in Earth's atmosphere. (Image credit: Silverwell Films, Getty & NASA)

Enterprise was built to test the shuttle's design on test flights in Earth's atmosphere. The vehicle didn't have a functional heat shield or engines; it was carried aloft by NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, then dropped at altitude.

Enterprise completed five such free flights, with two NASA astronauts at the controls each time. Those two were either Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton (Crew 1) or Joe Engle and Richard Truly (Crew 2). 

Charles — who became king upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on Sept. 8, 2022 but is being officially crowned today (May 6) — met all four of the Enterprise crewmates on Oct. 26, 1977.

Related stories:

— NASA's space shuttles: Where are they now?

— Facts about NASA's space shuttles, the first reusable spacecraft

— How nerds named NASA's space shuttle Enterprise

Though Enterprise never reached space, five shuttle orbiters did: Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discover and Endeavour combined to fly 135 space missions between April 1981 and the program's end in July 2011.

Two of those 135 missions ended in tragedy: Challenger and its seven-astronaut crew were lost shortly after launch in January 1986, and Columbia broke apart during its return to Earth in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.

The three surviving space-flown orbiters are in museums now, as is Enterprise. Since 2012, the test shuttle has been on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.