[1]Back in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s, the Race for Space was on, with NASA and its group of legendary astronauts at the head of the line. Many astronauts owned Corvettes, like Neil Armstrong, Apollo 13’s Jim Lovell, and the entire staff of Apollo 13 – Pete Conrad, Al Bean, and Dick Gordon.
At one point General Motors even set up a special “Dollar Lease” program for the astronauts that was run through Rathmann Chevrolet/Cadillac, in Melbourne, Florida. You can read more about the story behind those famous astronauts and the Corvette here, in this article [2] we ran that detailed the entire program.
And now we’re back, with this sweet video from the Motor Trend Channel [3], that runs through some of the space program’s details, and how the Corvette has played an integral part here on Earth for those astronauts.
[4]In the video, Arthur St. Antoine and Apollo 7’s Walt Cunningham take a trip around the country in a Velocity Yellow Corvette.
Cunningham recalls the days that made his group of astronauts famous, and discusses the parts and pieces used in the process.
Cunningham discusses how the primary focus of his team was to simply “not screw up” and what it was like to spend eleven days in space, which is an incredible look through the eyes of someone who actually experienced it.
Although the video is over 23 minutes long, if you’re a space or Corvette buff, it’s well worth the time to watch. It’s is an enlightening video that details how the Space Race took shape, the locations where the Race took flight, and the people that made it possible. Enjoy the sights, sounds, and view of history of some of America’s greatest moments – with the C7 front-and-center.