High Flyers: the ‘Astrovettes’ owned by NASA astronauts

July 2019 was one for the history books for a lot of reasons, but two of our favorites reasons are: the debut of the all-new 2020 Corvette on July 18, and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20.

As plenty of Corvette fans know, there’s another interesting connection between Corvette and the U.S. Space program, other than that near-conjunction of recent historical events. At the height of the Apollo program in the 1960s, Chevrolet made sure astronauts got to ride in style on terra firma through an innovative program that let astronauts lease new Corvettes for as little as $1 dollar per year. In addition to letting America’s spacefarers blow off some steam while on earth, the program also gave Corvette a huge public relations boost.

The connection between Corvette and NASA astronauts is a natural, with many astronauts being former fighter pilots who wanted to travel as fast on land as they had in the air. Chevy sealed the deal officially in 1962, when GM president Alan Shepard give a specially-prepared 1962 Corvette to astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, as a gift from the company. Up until then, it had been almost unheard of for Chevrolet to give away vehicles, even to heroes like Shepard, but the gift was the beginning of a partnership that would persist through the next decade.

One hurdle to putting astronauts behind the wheel of flashy Corvettes was a U.S. Military policy that forbade astronauts from profiting from their fame by taking gifts or doing endorsements. Chevy cleverly got around this prohibition by instituting their famous “Dollar Car” program, which let astronauts and their families lease up to two new Chevrolet vehicles for $1 per year from a dealership in Melbourne, Florida, near the home of NASA. Most astronauts chose a sensible family car, but also a flashy new Corvette.

As publicity for the Astronaut “Dollar Car” program grew, Chevrolet capitalized on the idea by offering astronauts specially-prepared and painted Corvettes. The three-man crew of Apollo 12, for example, were leased a trio of 1969 Corvette Roadsters with the 390 horsepower 427 big block engine. Originally Riverside Gold, the cars had a winglike black paint detail added to make them truly unique, along with red, white and blue logos as a salute to the crew’s service. The Apollo 12 crew was later captured in an iconic photo in Life Magazine, sitting on top of their nearly-identical cars.

Though the $1 lease program ended with the Apollo program in 1971, interest in astronaut-owned Corvettes has remained high. In 2007, a 1967 Corvette roadster originally owned by astronaut Gus Grissom, who died in a launchpad fire at Cape Kennedy in January 1967, sold at auction for $275,000. While today’s astronauts have to pay retail for their Corvettes, the connection is still strong. Retired astronauts Scott Kelly and Mae Jemison were on hand in July to help introduce the 2020 Corvette.

Like our high-flying heroes, we’re feeling the need for speed around here at McLarty Daniel Chevrolet of Springdale, and we’re counting the days until the first 2020 Corvette touches down on the lot. Ready to buy a 2020 Corvette in Northwest Arkansas? Then stop in today at your Northwest Arkansas Corvette superstore: McLarty Daniel Chevrolet! Get pre-approved for financing, then get ready for launch when the 2020 Corvette arrives on our lot this fall. Can’t wait? Grab one of the last front-engine 2019 C7 Corvettes right now at our website while you can.

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