Jon McBride looks at home in a NASA jumpsuit, probably because he’s been wearing one almost four decades.
The 73-year-old astronaut gave The Atlanta Journal-Constitution a tour of a snazzy vehicle NASA says could look like what roams the surface of Mars one day.
The vehicle was parked at The Battery Atlanta instead of where it usually resides in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as part of a promotional tour to bring tourists to Florida's "Space Coast" where the center is located.
Credit: Bob Andres
Credit: Bob Andres
The rover started its East Cost tour at The Battery but will be in several spots this summer like Washington D.C. and New York City, so you can catch it while it has that “new Mars rover” smell.
A mix of science fiction and PR, the Mars rover was designed by the same folks who made the Batmobile "tumbler" design vehicle, McBride said.
He said the rover cost a couple hundred thousand dollars but didn’t get specific.
Before becoming a spaceman, McBride was a Navy pilot. He flew 64 combat missions, according to NASA.
He became an astronaut in 1979 and piloted an eight-day mission into space that deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, which did all sorts of fancy science things.
He later became a NASA liaison to Congress before retiring in 1989. But he’s still a part of the Kennedy Center’s Astronaut Encounter team, which is why he was at The Battery.
If you don’t think you’ll make it to Cobb before Sunday, check out a video of our tour with McBride below.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
