Epic Drives rekindles NASA’s love affair with the Chevy Corvette

NASA. It was an acronym for amazement. In the 1960’s, astronauts were even more famous than movie stars and sports icons. What was their ride of choice (aside from the spaceship)? For a number of astronauts, it was the Chevrolet Corvette. This is true for many that were part of the legendary Apollo program, which landed men on the moon. Neil Armstrong drove a Corvette, and six Mercury astronauts were Corvette owners as well. The Corvette was literally THE car of NASA astronauts. The crew of Apollo 12 even ordered three identical C3 Stingrays (Alan Bean’s can be seen pictured above). Now that is the kind of car you are going to want to maintain, and seeing as Alan’s is the last of the three that remains, we hope he is getting those quick stop oil changes on schedule!

The link between the American space program and America’s favorite car was, and is, undeniable, and that is why Motor Trend’s Arthur St. Antoine borrowed a new, seventh-generation Corvette and enlisted the help of Walt Cunningham. Who is Walt Cunningham? Well he was an astronaut on Apollo 7 and a very big fan of America’s sports car (good taste). You can see it all go down in the video below. They travel from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Johnson Space Center in Houston, as they talk of space flight, Corvettes, and what it takes to be an astronaut. It is an amazing video to watch if the idea of space flight holds any interest for you. Enjoy!