Take a look at rare photos showing the early years of the NASA space shuttle era.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN)--NASA's first space shuttle was supposed to be called the "Constitution", a reference to the US Bicentennial that year. However, fans of "Star Trek" pushed the US President, Gerald Ford, to change his mind.

Instead, the orbiter was called "Enterprise," just like the spacecraft in the TV show.

This is why Star Trek crew members were among the crowds at the unveiling of the space shuttle in September 1976.

They can also be seen in one of the 450 previously unpublished, rarely seen photographs in a new book by University of Florida Press titled "Picturing the Space Shuttle: The Early Years."

The book chronicles the shuttle program from 1965 to 1982.

"Most of the books out there for the shuttle try to do too much, to cover the whole program," said John Pesney, co-author of the book, adding, "When you have 135 flights over 30 years, it's hard to sum it up in one book."

Instead, Bisney's book, which he co-authored with J. the. Pickering, a unique look at the early development of the shuttle, the world's first reusable spacecraft, with loads of quirky graphics, and others featuring alternate designs, some of which still look wonderfully futuristic.

The shuttle, officially called the "STS", or Space Transportation System, first flew into space on April 12, 1981.

The shuttle had the distinction of not being tested by performing an unmanned launch first.

Astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen circled the orbiter, Columbia, for 54 hours before landing safely on Earth.

The book's timeline ends after the fourth shuttle mission, which was a test flight that paved the way for operational missions.

Many of the images come from Pickering's personal archive, which is one of the world's largest private collections of human spaceflight photographs.

Pesney gave all the credit to Pickering, as he had a lot to sort out.

One of the things that sets us apart is the focus on extraordinary images, which are rarely seen," said Pesney.

When you go to a bookstore, and choose a book about the space shuttle, one will usually see repeated images.

While this is understandable as they are "fantastic pictures", as Pesney puts it, "but there's more to show you".

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The sense of anticipation surrounding the shuttle program, which carried American astronauts into space for the first time since the Apollo-Soyuz experimental project in 1975, visible in many photos.

The STS shuttle was retired in 2011, with 5 orbiters built (only 4 in space), two of which were lost in accidents in 1986 and 2003.

"When you have 135 missions, it's horrible to lose two of them," Pesney said, emphasizing that spaceflight is risky.

Stunning images of "NASA" during the first 60 years of space exploration