Are you a member of the Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut community? No, thought not. But if you were you could bag yourself an exclusive Range Rover Astronaut Edition produced by Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations.
Why? Well, Land Rover has been working with Virgin Galactic since 2014 as its exclusive automotive partner, and it seems that any collaboration is a reason for JLR to produce a one-off these days with a six figure price tag.
Exterior details include a bespoke puddle lamp illumination design featuring the silhouette of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, Astronaut Edition badging and a unique Zero Gravity Blue paint job– inspired by the night sky.
Inside, is a piece of the spaceship’s front landing skid that flew on Virgin Spaceship Unity’s first space flight in December 2018, which 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 and personally inscribed.
Further bespoke features, dotted around the cabin, include various graphics and engravings specifically relating to Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut community. The Astronaut Edition is based on the Range Rover Autobiography and available with either Land Rover’s P400e plug-in hybrid or 5.0-litre V8 P525 supercharged petrol collaboration.
Apologies to anyone reading this that is actually signed up to fly to space with Virgin Galactic!
Sir Richard Branson and Gerry McGovern pose next to the Range Rover Astronaut Edition.
