Portal:Spaceflight/Did you know/2008 Fortnight 5


 * …that Space Shuttle Enterprise (pictured) was originally to be called Constitution, but was renamed after the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek.
 * …that Explorer 1, the first American satellite, was launched just 84 days after the programme was started.
 * …that the Vostok 4 mission was shortened because cosmonaut Pavel Romanovich Popovich accidentally told flight controllers that he was "observing thunderstorms". This was a coded signal requesting an abort because the cosmonaut was feeling ill, however Popovich was actually trying to inform ground controllers that he could see thunderstorms from space.