A Tale of Two Land Rovers that Took Virgin Galactic A Step Ahead In The Space Race

It wasn’t long before the entire world witnessed the successful completion of Virgin Galactic’s first flight along with their full crew. If we look into it, the race to space has just got more interesting with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic taking the lead at the Billionaire’s space race, leaving behind the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

But, what makes a Land Rover Defender 110 and a Range Rover secure a place in the race to space? Well, that’s the interesting part! Sir Richard made his grand arrival for the Unity 22, in a Range Rover Astronaut Edition. Well, that’s not it… when the crew landed back on earth, the spacecraft, upon its successful travel, was pulled by a Land Rover Defender 110.

Wait, that’s not all! It’s almost an established fact that Land Rover’s vehicles have achieved a benchmark in the quality offering, mated with practicality. No matter where you take them, the Land Rover makes it feasible. Similarly, Land Rovers have long been associated with the Virgin Galactic team, as a part of their daily utility vehicles.

The cars are used to carry all the odd jobs carrying equipment, towing space vehicles, and clearing away the runways before take-off.

Being in the Virgin Galactic association since 2014, Land Rover’s are part of the daily life in the company! Interestingly, the cars had also played a significant role in helping the first private company to fly humans into space in a craft designed for commercial service.

Talking about how Range Rovers have formed a strong association with the brand, Stephen Attenborough, Chief Customer Officer for Virgin Galactic, said: “Land Rover has been by our side, on our side and part of our daily lives at Virgin Galactic since 2014. It was completely fitting that these capable, luxurious, and iconic vehicles played a central part in today’s historic events. As we look ahead to the start of a full commercial service, we couldn’t be more delighted to know that Land Rover will be going Above and Beyond, as together we open space to change the world for good.”

Now, if you’re unaware of the current race to space, it’s time we gave you an insight!

It’s no doubt that the world has an idea of Elon Musk’s intention of colonizing Mars and making space travel free for the common public. However, it would only be fair for us to say that Musk isn’t the only revolutionary with such a dream.

It all started when Sir Richard, along with a crew of five others, took the initiative to begin the world’s first-ever commercial space flight. Along with a full crew on the flight, they were successful in landing and taking off in Spaceport America, New Mexico. News is that the Virgin Galactic spacecraft almost lost contact with Earth’s gravity and all its passengers felt zero gravity.

Following the same, the world’s richest man is currently on a mission to something similar in outer space!

Also Read: Hydrogen-powered Land Rover Defender SUV in the works