![]() ![]() 26, 1967: The first Saturn V rocket was moved to the launchpad for the uncrewed Apollo 4 mission. 23, 1965: The crawler moved under its own power for the first time.Īug. March 1963: Fabrication began on the crawler-transporters in Ohio. Load Capacity: Capable to transport 18 million pounds or the total weight of more than 20 fully loaded 777 airplanes. Height: Varies from about 20 feet to 26 feet, based on the jacking, equalization, and leveling cylinders. Weight: About 6.6 million pounds or the total weight of around 15 Statues of Liberty or 1,000 pickup trucks. While other vehicles such as bucket-wheel excavators like Bagger 293, dragline excavators like Big Muskie, and power shovels like The Captain are significantly larger, they are powered by external sources. In its construction, the crawler-transporter became the biggest self-powered land vehicle in the world. The two huge crawler-transporters were built and designed by Marion Power Shovel Company using parts designed and built by Rockwell International at the cost of each US$14 million. The crawler-transporters transfer rockets on the Mobile launcher platforms used by NASA, and after each launch, they return to the pad to take the platform back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. ![]() And the Crawler-Transporter 2 will be integral to the Artemis program. The crawlers are envisioned as essential parts of future launch operations at Kennedy. Crawler-Transporter 2Īfter the lunar landing and Skylab programs stopped, the crawlers continued their work, taking space shuttles to their launch pads for about 30 years. The crawlers are unprecedented in the world, having been built in 1965 to move, as mentioned above, the heavy Saturn V from Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39. ![]() The Vehicle Assembly Building is just visible at upper right. The replacement is part of the “Return to Flight” program, and the Crawler was used to transport Space Shuttle Discovery to the launch pad for the STS-114 mission. Crawler-transporter beginning a road test on 21 December 2004 after replacement of the shoes on its caterpillar tracks. ![]()
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