Image of the Day: Crawler Transporter

Image credit: NASA/ Dimitri Gerondidakis

The above image shows a crawler-transporter arriving at Launch Pad 39A to pick up a shuttle-era mobile launcher platform and move up and down a ramp to test how well the systems work while carrying a load.

For more than 45 years, two crawler-transporters, or CTs, have carried America's human spaceflight program on their backs. This past year at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida crawler-transporter 2 has been undergoing a major overhaul to keep the workhorse going for many years to come. With the first phase of modification work complete, the crawler-transporter recently went for a successful test drive that proved all upgrades are working as designed. The next round of work on the system includes replacing the jacking and leveling cylinders and the roller bearing assemblies to accommodate the additional weight of the Space Launch System rocket.

The crawler wighs six and a half million pounds and is larger than a professional baseball infield. It moves a maximum speed of 1-mph while it carries a mobile launcher and 2-mph while unloaded. ■