Who Made Who? Astronauts and Their Corvettes

Corvette ownership make the first astronauts cool? Or did the Vette become cool because of the astronauts who owned them?

A lot has been written about the early astronauts and their Corvettes. Both share a common history and defined an era when anything seemed possible. These men pushed the boundaries in space and on earth. But did the astronauts make the Corvette cool by their association? Or did the image of them driving Corvettes add to the astronauts’ mystique?

It started with Alan Shepard. The first man in space owned a 1957 Corvette. After his sub-orbital flight, Shepard toured the country, promoting the space program. Stopping in Detroit, he saw several Corvette prototypes and met with Bill Mitchell, GM’s chief of styling. Also on hand was GM’s president, Ed Cole, who gave him the keys to a new white Corvette. 

That gift started an unofficial relationship between astronauts and the Corvette. The idea originated with Jim Rathmann, winner of the 1960 Indianapolis 500. Rathmann understood astronauts’ need for speed and convinced GM to offer them a special program. For just one dollar, they could lease a new car through his dealership. Just about every astronaut picked a Corvette, with very few exceptions. 

The lease program continued until 1971. Each year astronauts traded in their Corvettes for newer, faster models, trying to one-up each other. Stories of astronaut hijinks surrounded that time. Unofficial drag races. Practical jokes. High-speed runs on the beaches near Cape Canaveral, pulling people on water skis.  

Also during that time, astronauts chose matching Corvettes or customized them with a common theme. The crew of Apollo 12, Dick Gordon, Charles Conrad, and Alan Bean, ordered identical ‘69 Stingrays. Each car started out Riverside Gold but received a custom paint scheme. 

Later, before the Apollo 15 launch, Life magazine photographed its crew of Jim Irwin, Al Worden and Dave Scott. The magazine’s cover shot featured their red, white and blue Corvettes next to a lunar rover. 

Occasionally an astronaut-owned Corvette turns up for sale. Neil Armstrong’s 1967 Sting Ray showed up on eBay in 2012. The auction quickly topped $250,000. Listings for Alan Shephard’s white 1968 Corvette convertible appeared in 2019 and again earlier this year for $100,000. Collectors own cars driven by Gus Grissom, Gordo Cooper, Buzz Aldrin, and others. You can bet those cars will also go for serious money, if they are ever for sale. 

So did the early astronauts make the Corvette’s reputation? Or did the Corvette make the astronauts cool? The answer is probably a little of both.

“In the 1960s, astronauts were the American heroes that every child idolized and every adult respected,” said Corvette historian Jerry Burton. “That so many of them drove Corvettes really helped to establish Corvette as America’s sports car.”

While Alan Shepard may have started the trend, it still continues to this day. Look at astronauts from any decade of space travel and you will find Corvette enthusiasts. One of the most recent is Captain Scott Kelly, USN, who spent a year aboard the International Space Station. Kelly owned both a 2007 and 2018 convertible and was on hand for the launch of the C8. Asked why astronauts like Corvettes, he thought the answer was simple. “They just wanted to use cool, fast cars.” 

Photos: General Motors & The National Corvette Museum