A piece of U.S. Space history, an astronaut crew module, was transported, not from outer space, but from a NASA facility to the University of North Dakota (UND) by Landstar. 

In the fall of 2024, independent Landstar Agent Lisa Nestor arranged the cross-country shipment of the historic artifact that was used during a launch abort test at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Launched on July 8, 2009, the capsule was part of a trial run of the system designed to eject a crew capsule from the larger Orion spacecraft, according to the university. Because it splashed down into the Atlantic Ocean after the test, aerospace science students and faculty at UND are refurbishing the rusty capsule before it can be used for study and research as part of the school’s Lunar/Mars Habitat Project in Grand Forks, North Dakota.  

Nestor’s team at Success Transportation arranged for the 17 foot wide and 12 foot high crew module to be carefully lifted by crane onto a 53-foot RGN extendable trailer before it could go anywhere. It took a week and numerous permits to haul the 18,000-pound load through 30 states, with pilot cars in front of and behind the tractor-trailer – not to mention a few onlookers who couldn’t resist following it to get photos and videos of the capsule. 

Self-professed “NASA nerd” Nestor did a bit of gawking herself when she saw the capsule in its temporary resting base built to show off the artifact while it’s being sandblasted and prepared for permanent display in a more prominent place on campus.

“For me, this was super exciting, as my father worked on the Apollo projects when I was a baby. I wanted to work for NASA myself, starting out in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University ... but it wasn't as exciting at university levels, like it is today,” recalls Nestor. Instead, she says, she switched to mechanical engineering so that she could work in the environmental industry, which she did for years before going into transportation. 

Nestor may have been temporarily starstruck by the NASA cargo she secured, but that didn’t keep her from noticing the extra effort that went into the delivery for her customer. 

“The owner-operator went above and beyond the required service, removing casters, prepping the unloading site, sharing the transportation requirements with the UND team and bringing experience to the task that the academics did not have,” says Nestor. “The UND staff was beyond grateful for the teamwork in getting the artifact stabilized.”