On June 7, 1983, thousands stopped and turned their eyes and cameras to the sky as the spaceship cruised low overhead
Crowds gathered in the streets to watch the craft pass low overhead
Crowds flocked to Manchester airport, and people across Greater Manchester turned their binoculars and cameras to the sky in 1983 to catch a glimpse of a real-life spaceship.
The spaceship in question belonged to the US space agency NASA and was named after Captain Kirk’s ship in Star Trek. The Enterprise was the first orbiter of the Space Shuttle program of the late 1970s.
The craft was designed to be launched off the back of a modified Boeing 747 and perform atmospheric test flights before gliding safely back to earth without using its engines.
The Enterprise was a prototype for later craft that formed part of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, which included the shuttles Endeavour, Atlantis, Discovery, Challenger and Columbia.
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NASA’s Space Shuttles were the only winged spacecraft ever to achieve orbit and landing, and the first reusable crewed space vehicles to make multiple flights into orbit.
Crowds at Wythenshawe gather to watch the Space Shuttle Enterprise fly overhead. June 7, 1983
On June 7, 1983, the Enterprise, piggybacking on its Boeing 747, passed over Manchester Airport after taking over from Stanstead Airport.
On the day, huge crowds of star-struck space fans in Greater Manchester gathered at Manchester Airport or took to the streets along the iconic spacecraft’s flightpath to catch a glimpse of it.
The Enterprise and its carrier were due to fly low over Birmingham around 10.25 that morning before heading for Manchester, Glasgow and then back to America via Iceland.
Space Shuttle Enterprise, piggy back on a NASA 747 Jumbo Jet, flies over Manchester Airport at 11 o’clock, sweeping in from Heard Green Area at 600ft
When the popular Facebook group We Grew Up In Manchester posted a photo of the Enterprise passing over Manchester airport in 2023, many commented to share their memories of the day.
Neil Wiltshire remembered: “I was [on] the M56 near the airport… the traffic stopped dead to witness it fly by”.
Maggs Penny said: “We went to see this on the top floor of the car park at Manchester Airport”.
Photograph of the Space Shuttle Enterprise piggybacking on a Boeing 747 taken by Ronald Hudson from his family home in Hallgate Drive, Heald Green. June 7, 1983(Image: Ronald Hudson)
Ian Dockry “saw it from Greengate in Middleton,” adding: “It flew over the Hawker-Siddley/Aerospace factory”.
Sue Wright said: “I was working on the fifth floor at Astley House on Quay Street. I looked out of the window to see this passing. I was totally gobsmacked and will never forget that moment!”
Rob Dewhurst remembered the shuttle flying over his school, adding it was “an amazing sight to see.”
Colin Kirkwood said: “I was in a garden in Wythenshawe and it was so low over the garden I could have touched it.”
After a slow glide down the route of the runway, the shuttle slowly climbed up to 1000ft and was gone into the cloud for it’s flight over the city, 7th June 1983
Colin wasn’t the only one who commented on how low the shuttle was flying.
Belinda Slater said: “I can also remember this flying over Beswick,” adding: “I can remember like somebody else says, it seemed so low you could almost touch it.”
Unlike its shuttle successors, the Enterprise wasn’t equipped with a heat shield and never flew into space.
The craft was retired in 1985, donated to the Smithsonian Institution, and became a centrepiece of the Intrepid Museum in 2012.
The Enterprise paved the way for future shuttle missions. For those lucky enough to witness it fly over Greater Manchester in 1983, it’s a day they clearly have never forgotten.