To help launch the new Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo in California, Land Rover brought along a brand new Range Rover Autobiography to tow Richard Branson’s latest creation to its unveiling.

Land Rover and Virgin Galactic entered a partnership in April 2014 and given the Autobiography’s status as one of the best luxury offroaders, it was only fitting that it was used in the unveiling ceremony.

The SpaceShipTwo itself is known officially as VSS Unity, a name given to it by none other than Professor Stephen Hawking. VSS Unity is Branson’s latest suborbital spaceplane which he hopes will make space tourism a reality. Its launch comes 16 months after a fatal crash involving VSS Enterprise, the first SpaceShipTwo produced by the company.

According to commercial director at Virgin Galactic Stephen Attenborough “Since our partnership began in April 2014, Land Rover has become an integral part of the team’s day to day operating environment in Mojave. Therefore it was fitting that the Range Rover Autobiography took a staring role in today’s events as our new SpaceShipTwo, Unity, made its global debut. We’re looking forward to more collaborations across the business including STEM programmes as well as engineering, design and product initiatives.”

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