The coolest cars by NASA

We all know that NASA creates the most advanced spacecraft, space shuttles, capsules and modules. They are fabulous and bordering on fantasy. But few know that the agency creates and cars. And they are no less magnificent.

The history of cars, created by order NASA, Impresses with its diversity. Even more surprising is how little we know about these devices, and how much they affected the automotive industry.

Astronaut Transfer Van

As if the flight into space is not enough: many astronauts and even ride on a steep "astrovene". This vehicle carried support for all NASA missions, since STS-9. Firstly, there cosmonauts learned to wear bulky space suits and run complex mechanisms. Secondly, it is effectively a command delivered to shuttle back and pick up.

Inside the car carried a special air supply to make preparations and stay of astronauts in the cabin more comfortable. Florida - very wet state, so clean air is directly fed into the spacesuits astronauts.

Mobile quarantine unit (MQF)

clean air supply system has been realized not only in Astronaut Transfer Van. There was still a great and shining MQF, whose name can be translated as "mobile quarantine unit." This capsule, which put 11 astronauts returned from the historic space mission to the moon. What for? Good question.

While the view was that the team could bring to Earth some cosmic pathogens. Simply put, at NASA feared that the astronauts will infect us all with something unknown. Therefore, immediately after the arrival they were placed in a chamber. There they stayed for three weeks, blown pure worldly air. While the astronauts were missing in the module, they visited President Nixon. And yet they were transported from place to place in a special plane.

ER-2 Mobile Chase Car

Unique car that looks like a cross between a racing car and police. However, this car has a special purpose. Inside it, a radio set "air - ground", and always in the salon, in addition to the driver, there is another pilot. this man's task is to go strictly for the landing of space capsule ER-2, to communicate with astronaut inside and give him instructions, focusing on the area. Thus, the vehicle helps the team to carry out a successful landing.

Crawler transporter

NASA has created two such conveyor. Earlier rockets collected directly on the pad, but later the agency decided to move production to the premises, such as the Kennedy Space Center. Therefore it needed a mechanism capable of transporting huge structures like the Saturn V on the pads. Once the whole process has been modernized and the crawler transporters have lost their "Responsibilities", they have finalized and sent to help launch commercial space vehicles, as well as create SLS.

evacuation vehicle

Flying in space - is a dangerous business, so NASA counted in advance even the worst scenarios. If the pad has happened to an unexpected situation, the astronauts and support team to lightning left the scene on the M113 - an armored SUV. Prior to that, the car was also used in combat points and repeatedly confirmed its reliability. Later it was established, another modification of the car even more resistant to explosions, - MRAP.

aerodynamic truck

NASA was not enough for all inventions, and it began to develop the aerodynamic of the truck, trying to reduce the aerodynamic drag of such vehicles. True, some of them looked as if they were created specifically for the film "Mad Max." Other surprises with its design.

For example, one of such trucks has an elongated rear portion, whose shape is reminiscent of a boat. A batt located on the housing strip, which served as indicators of the direction and force of wind flowing around the truck.

Cars for transporting personnel

When the Space Shuttle returned to Earth, NASA has used a kind of lounge car that took astronauts to the command from the cab, and all at once. He transported them not just from point A to point B, but straight to the second floor of one of the agency's buildings.

Today these cars are still used, for example in the Washington airport.

The car-robot

A small unit became a loud event this year. Four mutually independent wheels, each of which is controlled by a separate electric motor, and the entire vehicle is controlled by an electronic system. In this case, the robot can travel on business itself or controlled by the pilot. He became an intermediary towards the creation of the rover with similar operating principles.