Half a century ago, NASA unveiled a spacecraft that would never reach orbit yet quietly changed the course of human spaceflight. The Space Shuttle Enterprise, rolled out in 1976 as a prototype built for atmospheric testing rather than the stars, proved that a reusable orbiter was not merely a dream but an engineering possibility. Its anniversary invites reflection on how the most consequential contributions to human progress are sometimes made by those who prepare the way rather than make the journey themselves.