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Comment by benlarweh | Hacker News Reader

46 pointsbenlarweh22 comments

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AI slop.

Astronaut Transfer Vehicle, aka THE astrovan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_transfer_van

Notably, not the Chevy Astro / GMC Safari van.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Astro

Both are iconic, but one more than the other

It was neither of those, but the new astrovan: https://www.airstream.com/space/

Ah very true. It comes in third in terms of "cool" factor, looking more like something a local retirement home would take to bingo night than something deserving the astrovan name. But I respect it nonetheless.

I would almost it rather be a straight off the lot short bus complete with Bob Steele Chevrolet license plate frame.

You're already building a rocket. Why add a superflous procurement side quest to that.

I can't do these one-sentence-per-paragraph, you-have-zero-attention-span we-have-AI articles. If I wanted LinkedIn I'd go there. This has no right being #1 on HN.

I agree. The LLM writing turned me off to the article, and the ELI5 style is off putting.

I flagged it now for this reason.

Finding a picture of said astrovan turned out to be a little bit of a chore. Despite being mentioned in the headline, no picture in the article. No picture of the current astrovan on the wiki page (though it was interesting to see the historical models). Had to go to the manufacturer to find any pretty pictures:

https://www.airstream.com/space/

"Before NASA sends astronauts to actually land on the Moon in 2028, they need to be absolutely certain that the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System rocket, and all the life-support systems work exactly as intended in the deep space environment where no quick rescue is possible."

They did it 53 years ago. Right? So what’s the problem?

No discussion or pictures of the Chevy Astrovan in this article.

Have a look at the old Astrovan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_transfer_van#/media/...

It's not the new one though. But you'll enjoy this one more.

Here is a December look at the Astrovan II they used today: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/nasa-rewraps-boeing-st...

Video from today: https://x.com/NASAArtemis/status/2039411225205886979

Thank you! It looks really ordinary. If I saw it at a science fair I wouldn't look twice.

No photos in the article, but are these still the Canoo EVs that NASA acquired for Artemis in 2023?

I wonder how long they’ll keep running with Canoo being defunct.

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/kennedy/new-flee...

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/nasa-rewraps-boeing-st... someone else linked this which said they were retired.

Probably this thing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_transfer_van

No picture of the van but plenty of ads.

And plenty of AI Slop.

They're trying to verify an issue with the FTS as of now, the flight termination system.

no pictures fake news

And it's been killed by HN most likely.

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