Meet the new “Astrovan” for Crew Dragon—a Tesla Model X

• 

  Meet the new Astrovan, with Launch Complex 39A in the background. [credit: Jim Bridenstine/NASA ]

On Wednesday, with just two weeks to go before the much-anticipated launch of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, NASA revealed that astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will ride to the launch pad in a stylized Tesla Model X.

"Here's some @Tesla news that everyone should love," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted. "Check out the Model X that will carry @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug to the launchpad for the Demo-2 mission!"

For nearly three decades NASA's astronauts rode in the iconic Astrovan. From 1984 through the end of the shuttle program in 2011, crews flying aboard that vehicle would suit up inside a facility at Kennedy Space Center and then make the nine-mile journey to the launch pad in a modified Airstream Excella RV.

Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments