— Artemis II, meet Astrovan II.

NASA's first astronauts who will fly by the moon in more than 50 years participated in a practice launch countdown on Saturday (Dec. 20), including taking their first trip on a transport vehicle steeped in almost the entire span of U.S. space history — from Apollo through to the on-going commercial crew program.

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch, all with NASA, together with mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency, began the rehearsal at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, proceeding as they will when they are ready to fly next year (the Artemis II launch is slated for no earlier than the first week of February and no later than April 2026).

Parked outside of their crew quarters and suit-up room was their ride to their rocket, "Astrovan II," a modified Airstream motorhome. The almost 25-foot-long (8-meter) crew transport vehicle (CTV) was custom wrapped with graphics depicting the moon, the Artemis II mission patch and program insignia.

From Canoo to coach

Airstream's Atlas Touring Coach, though, was not originally planned as NASA's Artemis CTV. In July 2023, NASA took delivery of three fully-electric vans from Canoo Technologies after the company, a startup based in Torrance, California, was awarded the contract the year before. At the time, NASA touted its selection as focusing on the "crews' safety and comfort on the way to the [launch] pad."

Six months later, Canoo filed for bankruptcy and NASA ceased active use of the electric vans, citing a lack of support for its mission requirements. Instead, the agency turned to another of its commercial partners, Boeing, which had its own CTV, but no astronauts at present to use it.

Boeing debuted the Astrovan II in 2019 as the means of delivering its Starliner spacecraft crews to United Launch Alliance's Atlas V launch pad. The Airstream coach — sporting at the time a Starliner-livery — was used for the company's first, and to date only Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station in June 2024. The flight encountered significant issues with the Starliner's thrusters and despite it landing safely, the capsule returned to Earth without its astronaut crew.

NASA and Boeing are now working towards returning Starliner to flight (with or without a crew is still to be determined), but there is ample time for the agency to lease the Astrovan II to support the Artemis II mission.

Tire tracks

The Airstream CTV is designated as "II" given that the original Astrovan was also furnished by Airstream. Based on the company's Excella-model motorhomes, the 1983 model was iconic for its full-body chrome finish.

Airstream's history with NASA extends even farther back, having built the modified travel trailers that were used as mobile quarantine facilities during the first several Apollo moon landing missions.

Saturday's Artemis II countdown demonstration test (CDDT) did not see the Astrovan II drive all the way to the launch pad. The mission's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft "Integrity" will be rolled out to Kennedy's Launch Complex 39B next month, so the rehearsal was conducted in the Vehicle Assembly Building where the SLS is still undergoing preparations.

NASA is retaining the Canoo electric CTVs to serve as a backup to the Astrovan II, according to an agency spokesperson.