As part of their official partnership agreement, Land Rover got to use the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo unveiling event as a marketing opportunity. They used a Range Rover Autobiography with Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson in it to tow the spaceship onto the stage.

Named VSS Unity by Professor Stephen Hawking, Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo is pitched as a huge leap forward for commercializing space travel. And while it remains to be seen if the thing is really all it’s cracked up to be, you have to admit it looks pretty cool. So it’s a good job they picked the Range Rover Autobiography, the world’s most luxurious and coolest SUV, as the official tow car. Land Rover has also provided a fleet of other vehicles for the Virgin Galactic team at its base in Mojave and Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Mark Cameron, Global Brand Experience Director at Land Rover, said: “This is a significant milestone for Virgin Galactic, and we are proud to be part of it. Helping the team unveil the new SpaceShipTwo not only reflects our supporting role in the Virgin Galactic programme, but it was also an impressive display of the Range Rover’s towing capability. But we have partnered with Virgin Galactic for many more reasons than simply providing and promoting a fantastic range of SUVs.  We share the same long-term vision to invest in innovative design and technology to help us go further and achieve more. Not simply to enable mankind to explore, but to develop this partnership to inspire others.  From our tens of thousands of employees and customers to schools and colleges, motivating more young people to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology – and explore new ways of travelling for future generations. This is a very special match of brands based around a shared vision.”