Electric Vehicle Company Canoo Announces Contract With NASA

Electric vehicle start-up Canoo isn't going to space, but they will be taking astronauts to the shuttle to get them there.

According to online government records, the company has secured a $147,000 contract with NASA. The company isn't commenting yet as the contract still needs to be officially confirmed, but Canoo says it's part of NASA's Artemis program, which will return humans to the moon by 2025, and potentially Mars beyond that.

Canoo's role will be to transport the astronauts to the launch pad. The announcement comes as the company plans for its future announcing a new headquarters in Northwest Arkansas and a production plant in Pryor.

"What we concentrated on was being American-made,” said Tony Aquila, the CEO of the company. “Not just American made, also native American made. Oklahoma is an energy state so these are energy products, these are clean energy products so it's organic in my opinion to also be here."

Aquila says they plan to have that plant open by early 2024.

The state of Oklahoma is paying Canoo $15 million to build the facility through a performance-based deal and has agreed to buy a thousand of their vehicles. Aquila says the facility, located at Pryor's MidAmerica Industrial Park, will bring 2,000 jobs to Oklahoma.