The 9-mile journey from the NASA astronaut crew headquarters to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida will never be the same, thanks to the introduction of these undeniably unusual vehicles.
NASA is getting ready for all kinds of cool stuff for the upcoming Artemis missions to the moon, starting from giant rocket even new rover moles and space suits. As if to leave nothing unchanged or upgraded, the space agency is looking to replace the vehicles that astronauts have delivered from Neil Armstrong’s Operations and Checkout Building to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center.
And like many other projects in progress, NASA turned to a private partner to develop a solution. In this case, NASA has the chosen Canoo Technologies, an electric vehicle startup headquartered in Arkansas, United States. The company will now design and build three custom trucks, or Crew Transport Vehicles (CRTs), as the space agency calls them, because when it’s NASA, everything deserves a cool, complex name. Canoo needs to have the fleet ready for testing by June 2023. Artemis’ first manned flights are scheduled for 2024.
“We are honored to have transported the Artemis crew to the launch site for the first human landing in over 50 years,” Canoo CEO Tony Aquila said in a statement. release. The company plans to launch its first electric pickup trucks for sale later this year, having chosen Prior, Oklahoma, as the manufacturing site. Artemis capsule trucks will be based on the company’s all-electric business models.
Together, the three NASA-designed trucks will transport four fully-equipped astronauts, flight support personnel, and associated equipment to the launch pad. Canoo must also ensure that the vehicles can support pre-launch activities such as training and testing countdown to launch. Canoo says its electric vehicles are environmentally friendly and can be easily recycled at the end of their useful life. It is also modular and upgradeable.
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The introduction of Canoo CRTs means they are the end of their life for an aging fleet strophan from NASA, dating back to 1983. It is not yet known whether or not the Artemis astronauts will receive cruisers Compliment, as was the case with their Apo . counterpartsHe. She.