The Enterprise was originaly designed the wrong way up. But Gene saw the mistake and went: that’s cool, we’re keeping it. Totally impractical for planetary landings, obviously fragile, but damn it looks cool still 60 years on
The story goes on to say that “TV Guide came out, they ran a picture of the ship on the cover, upside down.” The TV Guide image that this probably refers to can be seen here (it’s not actually a cover, but Matt Jeffries’ memory may have been slightly off):
The Enterprise was originaly designed the wrong way up. But Gene saw the mistake and went: that’s cool, we’re keeping it. Totally impractical for planetary landings, obviously fragile, but damn it looks cool still 60 years on