Artemis moon astronauts will get an opulent ride to the launch pad before leaving Earth.
NASA showed off the glitzy interior of its recent fleet of astronaut cars from Canoo Technologies Inc., that are assigned to the Artemis program. The primary astronaut crew, Artemis 2, will use the all-electric vehicles prior to their round-the-moon mission starting in 2024.
The moon crew’s automotive interior was unveiled at an enormous racing event: The Formula 1 (F1) Grand Prix of the US in Austin, Texas between Oct. 20 and 22. Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman (from NASA) and Jeremy Hansen (from the Canadian Space Agency) also got here on site Oct. 22 to speak with the racing crews.
Each Crew Transportation Vehicle will make a roughly nine-mile (14-km) journey at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the large launch day. Canoo is tasked with supplying a fleet of three vehicles, with requirements including seating for eight and “using zero-emissions technology for the subsequent generation of explorers,” NASA officials wrote in 2022.
Because the Artemis 2 astronauts showed in a dress rehearsal last month, they are going to don spacesuits within the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Constructing. After waving goodbye to well-wishers, the 4 astronauts (who also include NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch) will get of their cars for the drive to Launch Pad 39B. That pad was once the last stop on Earth for Apollo program astronauts and space shuttle crews as well.
The @Canoo Crew Transport Vehicle on the 2023 USA Formula 1 GP in Austin. Loved seeing it on display on the NASA stage during F1 race weekend!#Canoo #CTV #NASA #CanooToMoon #AustinF1 #Austin2023 #USGP23 pic.twitter.com/OzBs2YFULrOctober 23, 2023
The vehicles are used not only on launch day, but in other pre-launch operations including launch dress rehearsals and training. And it isn’t the one fleet of cars serving astronaut crews today: SpaceX has Teslas readily available for Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station. Boeing plans a customized Airstream Atlas Touring Coach, dubbed Astrovan II, for its own industrial crew flights.
There have been a few generations of vehicles driving astronauts to launch pads at KSC. The Mercury 7 astronauts traveled in a modified trailer pulled by a REO Motor Co. tractor, for instance, while Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz and early shuttle crews used a converted Clark Cortez motorhome.
Starting in November 1983, the space shuttle shifted to the enduring “Astrovan” that brought all astronaut crews to the pad between missions STS-9 and STS-135. The Astrovan is now on display on the KSC visitor center.
Other preparations for Artemis 2 are ongoing, with the crew pivoting to Earth orbit operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center of their sixth month of coaching. A simulated recovery exercise with NASA and the U.S. Navy is coming up soon, NASA officials said in an Oct. 19 statement, while the crew and repair modules for Artemis 2’s Orion spacecraft also met up on Oct. 19.