Stansted Airport Chamber of Commerce

In the year that BBC launched breakfast television and the Police topped the charts with “Every Breath You Take,” - NASA’s Space Shuttle Enterprise made an historic visit to Stansted Airport.

Space Shuttle Enterprise lands at Stansted Airport 1983

To mark the 25th anniversary the airport will this week host a special exhibition at Enterprise House featuring film footage of the Shuttle landing, together with rare photographs and memorabilia.  

Retired staff who helped coordinate the momentous day have been invited back to open the exhibition by event organiser, Derek Winter, BAA Stansted’s head of public affairs at the time. 

 “The Shuttle’s visit was probably the most famous event so far in the history of the airport and I decided I couldn’t just let the anniversary go by without doing something to mark the occasion,” said Mr Winter. 

“I’m really looking forward to meeting up with some of my old colleagues who worked with me back in 1983, and also talking to newer staff who perhaps were a bit young to remember this historic day. 

“It’s even more appropriate that we’re holding the exhibition in Enterprise House, as the building was named in honour of the Shuttle visit.”  

On June 5, 1983, and in front of nearly half a million people, the Shuttle touched down on the back of a specially modified Boeing 747. Its visit to Stansted was part of NASA's one-off European tour that included stopovers in Germany, Italy and France.

The day long exhibition, which also coincides with NASA’s own 50th anniversary, will be open from 11 a.m. on June 5.