SpaceX is preparing to make its first demo launches for NASA’s commercial crew mission program, which aims to bring back the capability for U.S. spacecraft to fly astronauts to space.
The rocket company plans to use Tesla Model X vehicles to bring the first astronauts flying in the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the launch pad.
It appears to be the latest example of some synergy between Elon Musk’s two main companies.
Earlier this year, we reported on Tesla and SpaceX partnering up to create new materials to use on Earth and in space.
Now we learn that SpaceX is using Tesla’s Model X as part of its crew program.
In a new report from NASA about SpaceX’s progress leading to the first launch, they wrote about a dry run of the process to bring the astronauts to the spacecraft:
“Successful dry run of Day of Launch Closeout Crew procedures with representative crew members, space suits, and Model X’s.”
SpaceX has a full schedule of launches by the end of the year and they are now targeting the first crew demo launch for November.
Electrek’s Take
Musk seems to like doing those little collaborations between Tesla and SpaceX.
Other recent examples include Tesla next-gen Roadster’s ‘SpaceX package’ with cold air rocket thrusters.
The CEO has also been talking about a ‘Cyborg Dragon Tesla’. It’s not clear what it will be yet, but we speculated that it could be some sort of Mars rover using SpaceX’s Dragon technology combined with Tesla’s vehicle technology.
I think there are a lot of cool things coming out of collaborations between Tesla and SpaceX in the pipeline.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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