A huge, square NASA vehicle that transports the space shuttle from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. Two crawler-transporters were originally used to move the Apollo–Saturn Moon rockets.
The crawler-transporter, which moves at 1.6 kph when loaded, is the largest tracked vehicle known, having eight tracks. It is 40 m wide, 35 m long, and weighs 2 721 tonnes. To transport the shuttle, it moves a mobile launcher platform into the Vehicle Assembly Building and then travels to the launch pad with the shuttle on the platform.
Subjects: Astronomy and Astrophysics.