star trek - Were the NX-class starships named after the Shuttles?

From Enterprise we know that the first two warp-5-capable NX-class starships were the NX-01 Enterprise and NX-02 Columbia.

Lo and behold, the U.S. Space Shuttle Orbiters were built in the following order:

Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour

I take this as non-coincidental.

Answer

Watching the opening credits to Enterprise, its safe to assume the authors of the show intend to show that the NX-class Enterprise was named after its predecessors. While it shows the history of exploration vehicles that leads to the NX-Enterprise, in includes both the HMS Enterprise, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

According to Memory Alpha both the Columbia and Enterprise were named after the shuttles, interview on this seen on Enterprise: Season four special features.

The crew patch from the NX Columbia also mirrored the shuttles patch, including 7 stars.