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The crawler-transporters, formally known as the Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities, are a pair of tracked
vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...
s used to transport
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, ...
from
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
's
Vehicle Assembly Building The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V and t ...
(VAB) along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. They were originally used to transport the
Saturn IB The Saturn IB (also known as the uprated Saturn I) was an American launch vehicle commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the Apollo program. It uprated the Saturn I by replacing the S-IV second stage (, 43 ...
and
Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...
rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entir ...
s during the
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
,
Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations ...
and Apollo–Soyuz programs. They were then used to transport
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...
s from 1981 to 2011. The crawler-transporters carry vehicles on the mobile launcher platforms used by NASA, and after each launch return to the pad to take the platform back to the VAB. The two crawler-transporters were designed and built by Marion Power Shovel Company using some components designed and built by
Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...
at a cost of ( in 2022) each. Upon its construction, the crawler-transporter became the largest self-powered land vehicle in the world. While other vehicles such as bucket-wheel excavators like Bagger 288, dragline excavators like Big Muskie and power shovels like
The Captain ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
are significantly larger, they are powered by external sources. The two crawler-transporters were added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 2000.


Specifications

The crawler-transporter has a mass of and has eight tracks, two on each corner. Each track has 57 shoes, and each shoe weighs . The vehicle measures . The height from ground level to the platform is adjustable from , and each side can be raised and lowered independently of the other. The crawler uses a laser guidance system and a leveling system to keep the Mobile Launcher Platform level within 10 minutes of arc (0.16 degrees; about at the top of the Saturn V), while moving up the 5 percent grade to the launch site. A separate laser docking system provides pinpoint accuracy when the crawler-transporter and Mobile Launch Platform are positioned in the VAB or at the launch pad. A team of nearly 30 engineers, technicians and drivers operate the vehicle, centered on an internal control room, and the crawler is driven from two control cabs located at either end. Before the launch the crawler-transporter is removed. The crawlers were overhauled in 2003 with upgrades to the Motor Control Center, which houses the switchgear and electrical controls of all of major systems on board; a new engine and pump ventilation system; new diesel engine radiators; and replacement of the two driver cabs on each vehicle (one on each end). As of 2003, each crawler had 16 traction motors, powered by four generators, in turn driven by two V16 ALCO 251C
diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...
s. Two generators, driven by two engines, were used for jacking, steering, lighting, and ventilating. Two generators were also available to power the Mobile Launcher Platform. The crawler's tanks held of diesel fuel, and it burned . Due to their age and the need to support the heavier
Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...
and its launch tower, in 2012–2014 the crawlers were undergoing an upgrade involving "new engines, new exhausts, new brakes, new hydraulics, new computers"; CT-2 was further upgraded in 2014–2016 to increase its lifting capacity from . The crawlers traveled along the Crawlerways, to LC-39A and LC-39B, respectively, at a maximum speed of loaded, or unloaded. The average trip time from the VAB along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39 is about five hours. Each Crawlerway is deep and covered with Alabama and Tennessee river rock for its low friction properties to reduce the possibility of sparks. In 2000, NASA unearthed and restored an Apollo-era segment of the Crawlerway to provide access to High Bay 2 in the VAB in order to provide protection from a hurricane for up to three Shuttles at the same time. Kennedy Space Center has been using the same two crawlers since their initial delivery in 1965. They are now nicknamed "
Hans and Franz Hans and Franz are characters in a recurring sketch called "Pumping Up with Hans & Franz" on the television sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', played by Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon, respectively. Description In the sketch, Carvey and N ...
", after the parodic Austrian body-builder characters on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
'', played by Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon. In their lifetime, they have traveled more than , about the same driving distance as from
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
to
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
.


Future use


Crawler-Transporter 2

NASA currently plans to use crawler-transporter 2 to transport the
Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...
with the
Orion spacecraft Orion (officially Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin and the Eur ...
atop it from the
Vehicle Assembly Building The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V and t ...
to Launch Pad 39B for the Artemis missions. Early in 2016, NASA finished upgrading crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) to a "Super Crawler" for use in the Artemis program. NASA performed a rollout of the
Artemis 1 Artemis 1, officially Artemis I and formerly Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), was an uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission. As the first major spaceflight of NASA's Artemis program, Artemis 1 marked the return of the agency to lunar exploration origina ...
Space Launch System and Orion on March 17, 2022 for the first Wet Dress Rehearsal, and the rollout for launch, which launched in November 2022. The rollout for the WDR, marked the first time one of the crawler transporters rolled a launch vehicle to the launch pad since STS-135.


Crawler-Transporter 1

NASA had originally planned for crawler-transporter 1 to be used by commercial launch vehicles. In April 2016, then Orbital ATK, now
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alli ...
, and NASA entered negotiations for the lease of CT-1 and one of the four Vehicle Assembly Building bays. Northrop Grumman has originally planned to use CT-1 to transport their
OmegA Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/ isopsephy ( gematria), it has a value of 800. The ...
from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B. OmegA however was cancelled in September of 2020 after Northrop Grumman lost the National Security Space Launch contract to
United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, a ...
and
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal o ...
.


Appearances in popular culture

The crawler-transporters have featured in television and movies. In a 2007 season three episode of '' Dirty Jobs'', host Mike Rowe helps workers maintain a crawler-transporter and takes the vehicle for a short drive. The crawler was also seen in the 1995 film ''
Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...
'', the 2011 film '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'' and the 2019 film ''
Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
''. Similar vehicles also appeared in the 2013 film '' Pacific Rim''. In the '' Fallout 3'' video game add-on pack "
Broken Steel There are five pieces of downloadable content (DLC) for the Bethesda action role-playing video game ''Fallout 3''. Each package of downloadable content adds new missions, new locales to visit, and new items for the player to use. Of the five, ...
", the US government survivors, The Enclave, have a mobile base built on and into a heavily modified crawler. In '' Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri'', various units are called "crawlers" and feature chassis based on the crawler-transporters. In '' Asphalt 8: Airborne'', 3 crawler-transporters drive over the space center French Guiana track.


Gallery

File:LC-39 Observation gantry pano.jpg, Crawlerway junction at the LC-39 observation gantry. The right track leads to pad LC-39A (pictured with ), while the left track leads to pad LC-39B. File:Ap11-KSC-69PC-241HR.jpg, Saturn V, service structure and MLP on top of a crawler File:Crawlertreds.jpg, Detail of crawler treads File:STS-79 rollout.jpg, atop an MLP (and crawler beneath) File:STS-114 rollout.jpg, A crawler-transporter carrying (STS-114) travels the ramp to Launch Pad 39B. The vehicle's back end can be raised, keeping the Shuttle and the MLP level. File:STS-51-L - Space Shuttle Challenger on the Crawler-Transporter.jpg, atop an MLP atop a crawler, in transit to its launch pad prior to its final flight, January 28, 1986 File:Ares I-X rollout on mobile launch platform.jpg, Crawler carrying the
Ares I-X Ares I-X was the first-stage prototype and design concept demonstrator of Ares I, a launch system for human spaceflight developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Ares I-X was successfully launched on October 28, ...
atop an MLP


See also

* List of largest machines


References


External links

* - Crawler-transporter parking area at Kennedy Space Center
Virtual tour of Crawler-Transporter 2 upgrades
at Nasatech.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawler-Transporter Apollo program hardware Kennedy Space Center Marion Power Shovel Company NASA vehicles National Register of Historic Places in Brevard County, Florida Space Shuttle program Tracked vehicles Vehicles introduced in 1965