Land Rover’s partners Virgin Galactic has completed their first fully-crewed space flight. Also on-board the first commercial space flight was the founder, Sir Richard Branson, as one of the four Mission Specialists. The British automaker revealed that since 2014, Land Rovers are transporting astronauts and also towing the Virgin Galactic space vehicles. Land Rover vehicles also work as support vehicles in day-to-day operations.
Range Rover Astronaut Edition & Unity 22 Mission
The Range Rover Astronaut Edition ferried Sir Richard Branson for the ‘Unity 22’ mission. In addition to this, the Land Rover Defender 110 was used as a towing vehicle to bring back the Virgin Galactic spacecraft after landing safely at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The SpaceShipTwo Unity craft travelled with two pilots and four mission specialists on board. The crew of six commenced and ended their mission from Spaceport America, becoming Virgin Galactic’s first-ever fully crewed space flight.
Astronauts of the Future
This mission was Virgin Galactic’s fourth crewed spaceflight and was the first with a full crew. According to sources, the spaceflight crew saw “incredible” views of the Earth from space and experienced out-of-seat weightlessness inside the cabin of the spacecraft. The incredible achievement was also live-streamed around the world, where audiences could watch the space flight. Audiences around the world also got the first-hand experience of how Virgin Galactic is creating future astronauts.
Commercial Spaceline
Virgin Galactic is the first ‘Commercial Spaceline’ in the world, with around 600 Future Astronaut customers signed in for missions in the near future. Land Rover vehicles will transport Future Astronauts under the Land Rover-Virgin Galactic partnership. Land Rover Vehicles are also part of the daily activity and part of the Virgin Galactic team. The unique Land Rover cars tow space vehicles, carry equipment, and clear runways before take-off.
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