Does NASA Know They Could've Completed The Mission Much Faster By Car?

Someone just discovered that driving from Kennedy Space Center to Naval Base San Diego takes roughly the same time whether you take the scenic southern route (1 day 12 hours) or the northern interstate route (1 day 15 hours). You know what else takes about that long? Launching a rocket into space, orbiting the Earth multiple times at 17,500 mph, and landing back on the West Coast.

But sure, let's just toss the multi-billion dollar spacecraft in the trunk of a Honda Civic and cruise through Texas instead. I'm sure the astronauts would love the road trip snacks and bathroom breaks every 200 miles. Plus, you'd save SO much on rocket fuel! Just ignore the minor detail that one route involves literally leaving the planet while achieving orbital velocity of about 25 times the speed limit.

Fun fact: The Space Shuttle covered the distance from Florida to California in about 45 minutes during re-entry. But yeah, Google Maps says 1 day 12 hours, so clearly NASA's been doing it wrong this whole time. Someone forward this to Elon.