Exclusive Range Rover Astronaut Edition produced by Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations is only available to members of the Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut community. The new model is based on the luxurious Range Rover Autobiography. Land Rover has been working with Virgin Galactic since 2014 as its exclusive automotive partner.
Like the space flight, Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations wanted this vehicle to be unique, so every astronaut will get a piece of wood in their vehicle that have actually been to space. One-off interior design includes custom cup holder crafted from the spaceship’s front landing skid, ‘DNA of Flight’ logo graphic veneer and aluminium door handles with the Future astronaut community constellation design.
The unique Zero Gravity Blue paint finish is inspired by the depth and intensity of the night sky. A bespoke puddle lamp illumination design features the silhouette of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo while unique Astronaut Edition badging features on the tailgate and side profile finishers.
Inside, the Astronaut Edition features a crafted piece of the spaceship’s front landing skid that flew on Virgin Spaceship Unity’s first space flight in December 2018. Part of that skid, which provides the spaceship with a highly effective, lightweight braking mechanism, has been re-purposed to form two discs within the cup holders. One of these references a quote which Richard Branson often makes to his fellow Future Astronauts – ‘See you up there’ -and the other features the details of the space flight. Once a Future Astronaut has flown to space, and becomes an astronaut, this will be swapped out with part of the wooden skid from that customer’s own spaceflight, personally inscribed with the specific details of a life changing experience.
Further bespoke features include a ‘DNA of Flight’ graphic on the carbon fibre front console drawer lid and this motif is also debossed onto the leather rear armrest. Solid aluminium metal door handles are engraved with Virgin Galactic’s own Future Astronaut community constellation pattern which represents a global community connected by a love of space. This design also features on the rear of the front headrests and metal letterbox panel design above the glovebox. Additional personalisation options include stitching the Future Astronaut’s initials onto the headrests.
The Astronaut Edition is available with Land Rover’s P400e plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) powertrain, which delivers a combined 404PS, EV range of 42km and CO2 emissions of 72g/km – subject to market availability. A high- performance 5.0-litre V8 P525 supercharged petrol is also offered.
