While there’s been a number of cars launched into space – a couple human-driven ones on the moon, a bunch of robotic ones on Mars, for example – no internal-combustion piston engine has ever left Earth. That makes sense since, you know, they don’t work outside the atmosphere. Until now. Currently in development is the first ICE designed to go into space, and it’s an old-school straight-6, built by people who make NASCAR engines.
Source: Gizmodo – A NASCAR Team Is Building The First Internal Combustion Engine To Go Into Outer Space