After taxi tests of the combination on Feb 15, the Space Shuttle and Carrier Aircraft combination took to the skies for the first time on Feb 18. Five Captive flights were carried out over the next few weeks to confirm the handling characteristics of the combination. During these flights, the Enterprise was entirely passive. In June, astronauts flew in the Enterprise cockpit for the first time, and the ship was electrically powered up during three Captive Active flights. The prime ALT team of Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton flew the first and third Captive Active flights, with the backup team of Joe Engle and Dick Truly flying the second one.
The stage was set for the most critical part of the ALT program: the first actual Approach and Landing Test flight. Haise and Fullerton were aboard as the 747 separated and dived away, leaving Enterprise in a rapid descent toward the Edwards lakebed. The first three ALT flights each lasted five minutes, and had the ferry tailcone attached. The two crews alternated, with Engle and Truly on flights two and four. ALT 4 was the first flight without the tailcone attached; the descent lasted only two minutes because of the higher drag. ALT 5 was also flown without the tailcone, and made the first Shuttle landing on the concrete Edwards runway. These two flights were the only times that the 747/Orbiter combination took to the air without the tailcone attached.
After the ALT program, four flights of the combination qualified the system for cross country ferry flights. Enterprise was then demated and modified for the MVGVT tests.
In 1978, Enterprise arrived at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. At the MSFC Dynamic Test Stand, OV-101 was mated to an External Tank (ET-GVTA) for the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Tests (MVGVT). In a second phase, starting Oct 6, two dummy solid rocket boosters were added to the stack. The boosters were filled with potassium chloride instead of oxidizer, and the tank contained 70 tons of water. A third phase used empty SRBs and only 50 tons of water. The different phases simulated different stages in a Shuttle ascent.
Following the completion of MVGVT, OV-101 was destacked and flown to the Kennedy Space Center for the Pathfinder test. The Pathfinder stack, consisting of SRBs GTM-4 and GTM-5 and ET-GVTA, was ready in the VAB and mated to Enterprise on 1979 Apr 24. Pathfinder was used for fit checks in the VAB and at pad 39A.
Following its return to California, OV-101 was stored at Palmdale for a year and then returned to Edwards. In May-Jun 1983 the SCA/OV-101 combination set off on its longest trip, culminating in five demonstration flights at the 1983 Paris Air Show. The following year, it spent seven months in New Orleans at the World's Fair. These public relations exercises were followed by a more serious mission, when Enterprise made the trip to Vandenberg AFB to repeat its Pathfinder role at the proposed polar SLC-6 launch complex. It was mated with the new filament wound solid rocket motors and an external tank. However, the SLC-6 complex was never used for Shuttle flights. In late 1985, Enterprise was handed over to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum for storage at Dulles Airport. A final set of tests was carried out at Dulles in 1987; OV-101 was slowly wheeled into a runway crash net to evaluate the emergency device.
| 1976 Mar 12 | | Assembly complete | Palmdale |
| 1976 Sep 17 | | Rollout | Palmdale |
| 1977 Jan 31 | | Road transfer | EAFB |
| 1977 Feb 8 | | SCA 905 mate | EAFB |
| 1977 Feb 15 | | SCA 905 taxi tests | EAFB RW04 |
| 1977 Feb 18 | 1630 | ALT Captive 1 (2:15) | EAFB RW04 |
| 1977 Feb 22 | 1632 | ALT Captive 2 (3:13) | EAFB RW22 |
| 1977 Feb 25 | | ALT Captive 3 (2:28) | EAFB RW04 |
| 1977 Feb 28 | 1600 | ALT Captive 4 (2:11) | EAFB RW04 |
| 1977 Mar 2 | 1600 | ALT Captive 5 (1:39) | EAFB RW22 |
| 1977 Jun 18 | 1506 | ALT Cap Active 1A (0:56) | EAFB RW22 |
| 1977 Jun 28 | 1450 | ALT Cap Active 1 (1:02) | EAFB RW22 |
| 1977 Jul 26 | 1447 | ALT Cap Active 3 (1:00) | EAFB RW22 |
| 1977 Aug 12 | 1504 | ALT 1 SCA takeoff | EAFB RW04 |
| | 1549 | ALT 1 free flight (0:05:23) | |
| | 1554 | ALT 1 touchdown | EAFB RW17 |
| 1977 Sep 13 | 1500 | ALT 2 SCA takeoff | EAFB |
| | 1549 | ALT 2 free flight (0:05:28) | |
| | 1554 | ALT 2 touchdown | EAFB RW15 |
| 1977 Sep 23 | 1500 | ALT 3 SCA takeoff | EAFB |
| | 1545 | ALT 3 free flight (0:05:34) | |
| | 1550 | ALT 3 touchdown | EAFB RW17 |
| 1977 Oct 12 | 1445 | ALT 4 SCA takeoff | EAFB |
| | 1550 | ALT 4 free flight (0:02:34) | |
| | 1552 | ALT 4 touchdown | EAFB RW17 |
| 1977 Oct 26 | 1500 | ALT 5 SCA takeoff | EAFB |
| | 1550 | ALT 5 free flight (0:02:01) | |
| | 1552 | ALT 5 touchdown | EAFB RW04 |
| 1977 Nov 15 | | Ferry Trial 1 | EAFB RW04/22 |
| 1977 Nov 16 | | Ferry Trial 2 | EAFB RW04/22 |
| 1977 Nov 17 | | Ferry Trial 3 | EAFB RW04/22 |
| 1977 Nov 18 | | Ferry Trial 4 | EAFB RW04/22 |
| 1977 Dec 12 | | MVGVT mods begin |
| 1978 Mar 3 | | MVGVT mods complete |
| 1978 Mar 10 | | SCA 905 | EAFB |
| 1978 Mar 10 | | SCA 905 | Ellington AFB, TX |
| 1978 Mar 13 | | SCA 905 | Redstone Field, AL |
| 1978 Mar 14 | | To MVGVT test stand | MSFC |
| 1978 Apr 3 | | MVGVT Phase I, ET mate |
| 1978 Jul 31 | | MVGVT Phase I end, demate |
| 1978 Sep? | | ET/SRB stack |
| 1978 Oct 6 | | MVGVT Phase II |
| 1978 Nov | | MVGVT Phase II end part 1 |
| 1979 Feb | | MVGVT Phase II cont |
| 1979 Mar | | MVGVT Phase II end |
| 1979 Apr 10 | | SCA 905 | Redstone Field, AL |
| 1979 Apr 10 | | SCA 905 | KSC SLF |
| 1979 Apr 24 | | Mate to Pathfinder | VAB3 |
| 1979 May 1 | 1330 | Rollout | LC39A |
| 1979 Jul 23 | 1423 | Rollback | VAB |
| 1979 Aug 10 | | SCA 905 | KSC SLF |
| 1979 Aug 10 | | SCA 905 | Atlanta, GA |
| 1979 Aug 11 | | SCA 905 | St Louis, MI |
| 1979 Aug 12 | | SCA 905 | Tulsa, OK |
| 1979 Aug 13 | | SCA 905 | Denver, CO |
| 1979 Aug 14 | | SCA 905 | Hill AFB, Ogden, UT |
| 1979 Aug 15 | | SCA 905 | Vandenberg AFB |
| 1979 Aug 16 | | SCA 905 | Edwards RW04/22 |
| 1979 Aug 23 | | SCA demate | EAFB |
| 1979 Oct 30 | | Road transfer | Palmdale |
| 1981 Sep 16 | | Road transfer | Edwards |
| 1982 Jan | | Scales test | EAFB |
| 1983 Jan | | Air bag tests | EAFB |
| 1983 May 16 | | SCA | EAFB RW04/22 |
| 1983 May 16 | | SCA | Peterson AFB, CO |
| 1983 May 18 | | SCA | McConnell AFB, KS |
| 1983 May 18 | | SCA | Wright-Patterson AFB, OH |
| 1983 May 19 | | SCA | Goose Bay, Labrador |
| 1983 May 19 | | SCA | Keflavik, Iceland |
| 1983 May 20 | | SCA | RAF Fairford, UK |
| 1983 May 20 | | SCA | Bonn-Koln, FRG |
| 1983 May 24 | | SCA | Le Bourget, Paris |
| 1983 Jun 1 | | SCA | Roma |
| 1983 Jun 2 | | SCA | Le Bourget, Paris |
| 1983 Jun 3 | | SCA Air show | Le Bourget, Paris |
| 1983 Jun 4 | | SCA Air show | Le Bourget, Paris |
| 1983 Jun 5 | | SCA Air show | Le Bourget, Paris |
| 1983 Jun 5 | | SCA | Stansted Airport, England |
| 1983 Jun 7 | | SCA | Keflavik, Iceland |
| 1983 Jun 8 | | SCA | Goose Bay, Labrador |
| 1983 Jun 8 | | SCA | Ottowa, Ontario |
| 1983 Jun 10 | | SCA | Dulles Airport, VA |
| 1983 Jun 13 | | SCA | Sheppard AFB, TX |
| 1983 Jun 13 | | SCA | Edwards AFB |
| 1984 Mar 22 | | SCA | Edwards AFB |
| 1984 Mar 22 | | SCA | Vandenberg AFB |
| 1984 Mar 28 | | SCA | Little Rock AFB, AR |
| 1984 Mar 29 | | SCA | Brookley Field, Mobile, AL |
| 1984 Apr 2 | | Road transfer | Mobile USCG |
| 1984 Apr 3 | | Barge 'Paul Bunyan' |
| 1984 Apr 5 | | New Orleans World Fair |
| 1984 Nov 3 | | Barge 'Paul Bunyan' |
| 1984 Nov 5 | | | Mobile USCG |
| 1984 Nov 5 | | Road transfer | Brookley Field |
| 1984 Nov 10 | | SCA | Kansas City, MO |
| 1984 Nov 13 | | SCA | Edwards AFB |
| 1984 Nov 16 | | SCA Pathfinder | Vandenberg |
| 1985 Jan 25 | | FWC stacking starts |
| 1985 Feb 16 | | Mate to ET-23/SRB | SLC6 |
| 1985 Mar 8 | | Demate | SLC6 |
| 1985 May 24 | | SCA | Edwards |
| 1985 Sep 20 | | SCA | Edwards |
| 1985 Sep 20 | | SCA | Kelly AFB, TX |
| 1985 Sep 20 | | SCA | KSC SLF |
| 1985 Nov 18 | | SCA | KSC SLF |
| 1985 Nov 18 | | SCA | Dulles |
| 1985 Nov 18 | | Transfer to NASM |
| 1987 Jun 8-12 | | SOAS runway tests |
| 2012 Apr | | Transfer to Dulles |
| 2012 Apr 27 | | SCA | T/O from Dulles |
| | | SCA | Land at JFK New York |
