Tesla ferries astronauts

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk surprised some Tesla owners at a Florida supercharging station.

He drove up in a white Model X similar to the one two astronauts rode in to the May 28 abandoned launch of the SpaceX Demo-2 Crew Dragon at Kennedy Space Centre.

Musk took photos with Tesla owners at the West Melbourne station near the launch location, the mission delayed because of bad weather, rescheduled for May 30.

Attending the event, Musk spoke with fans a few hours after the abandoned rocket launch, arriving in a Tesla similar to the one astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken rode in to Launch Pad LC-39A, Teslarati reports.

After three unsuccessful launch attempts and a successful fourth, SpaceX won a US$1.5 billion contract from NASA which led to the latest venture.