Since the Space Shuttle could n’t very well fly itself to the launching pad , NASA had to cipher out how to get $ 1.7 billion Charles Frederick Worth of spacecraft from the Vehicle Assembly Building the the Launch Pad . Their solution : the 2700 - long ton Crawler - Transporter . Problem solved .
Standing 20 - 26 feet high , 131 feet wide-cut , and 114 foot long , each fomite — dub “ Hans ” and “ Franz”—consists of four sets of double track , each weighing nearly 60 tons ( that ’s one Bowhead Whale ’s worth ) . Four 1,000 kw generators power the vehicle ’s traction motors — themselves powered by two 2,750hp diesel engines — make the angleworm move . Another twosome of 750 kw author , ride by dual 1,065 hp diesel engine engines , leave power for the lighting , accessories , and ego - leveling pack of cards .
The Crawler - Transporter gallop along the 3.5 land mile reinforced crawlerway from the VAB to the launch site at a blistering two miles an hour ( and only half that when loaded ) , consume 437 gal of Rudolf Diesel along the manner . Since the showtime of their service in 1965 , they ’ve traveled a combined 2,526 miles ( roughly the distance between Mazatlan and Vancouver ) .
[ Crawler - Transporter Wiki – NASA ]
Monster Machinesis all about the most exceptional machines in the humanity , from monumental gadgets of demolition to lilliputian machines of precision , and everything in between .
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