National Corvette Museum to open NASA exhibit in January

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – From gas station to space station, the National Corvette Museum will be unveiling a new NASA exhibit in January.

While corvettes and NASA may seem like they have nothing in common, they actually do. Astronaut Alan Shepard created the tie between the two when he drove a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette to the astronaut training base. A few years later Shepard became the first American to travel in space in the year 1961. When he arrived home, he was honored with a brand new Corvette from GM President Ed Cole to celebrate his success. Later a GM dealer offered astronauts the opportunity to lease a Corvette from his dealership for only one dollar per year. Many of the Mercury Program through Apollo 12 astronauts took advantage of the offer.

That exhibit will open next month on January 14th.