Photo: Land Rover
Back in 2019, the world got wind of something called Range Rover Astronaut Edition. It was the culmination of years of work performed by the iconic British carmaker alongside what is hoped to become an iconic international space company, Virgin Galactic.
The Astronaut Edition is something of a close-circuit affair. Designed by SVO, it will only be available for “members of the Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut community.” The SUVs will be used to transport people to their orbital flights once and if Virgin finally manages to make that happen.
But there are many more other Land Rovers milling around Virgin’s facilities. The Astronaut Edition is just the facade behind which a fleet of hard-working SUVs were and are used to move Virgin’s HQ from California to New Mexico, or carry equipment and clear the runways, or tow space planes to their designated positions.
The Land Rovers did all this hard work from an official position, thanks to a partnership between the car company and the space enterprise. And apparently, they’ll be doing this at least until 2024, following a three-year extension of the partnership announced on March 30.
“Accessible space travel for explorers worldwide is the next great big adventure. Land Rover is proud to work alongside the Virgin Galactic team to support all future astronauts as they push the boundaries of personal adventure even further,” said in a statement Joe Eberhardt, JLR North America CEO.
The announcement was made just as Virgin was pulling the wraps off the surprising VSS Imagine spaceship, supposedly the first in a line of new sub-orbital machines meant to speed up money-making operations for the company.
Virgin Galactic has been around for more than 15 years now, and despite serious strides to make space flight for civilians a reality, it still doesn’t seem to have the right recipe ready.
But there are many more other Land Rovers milling around Virgin’s facilities. The Astronaut Edition is just the facade behind which a fleet of hard-working SUVs were and are used to move Virgin’s HQ from California to New Mexico, or carry equipment and clear the runways, or tow space planes to their designated positions.
The Land Rovers did all this hard work from an official position, thanks to a partnership between the car company and the space enterprise. And apparently, they’ll be doing this at least until 2024, following a three-year extension of the partnership announced on March 30.
“Accessible space travel for explorers worldwide is the next great big adventure. Land Rover is proud to work alongside the Virgin Galactic team to support all future astronauts as they push the boundaries of personal adventure even further,” said in a statement Joe Eberhardt, JLR North America CEO.
The announcement was made just as Virgin was pulling the wraps off the surprising VSS Imagine spaceship, supposedly the first in a line of new sub-orbital machines meant to speed up money-making operations for the company.
Virgin Galactic has been around for more than 15 years now, and despite serious strides to make space flight for civilians a reality, it still doesn’t seem to have the right recipe ready.
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