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For more than 40 years, the twin crawler-transporters at NASA's Kennedy Space Center have slowly traveled the

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gravel track between the massive Vehicle Assembly Building and the two launch pads at Launch Complex 39.

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These mammoth beasts that first carried all the Apollo Saturn V rockets have since borne every

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space shuttle on the last Earth-bound leg of their journeys to space.

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The technology used to build these huge, reliable crawlers capable of such Herculean tasks was deeply

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rooted in a region where giant machines excavated and extracted veins of coal.

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Engineers with the Marion Power Shovel Company of Marion, Ohio, adapted the technology in the early 1960s,

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and their know-how has stood the test of time.

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SOT: Ray Trapp, crawler manager:"One of 
the decisions that they had to make back

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then for Apollo was how to get the vehicle out to the pad.

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They looked at rail, and they looked at the barge, and both of those had issues,

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and then they finally settled on the crawler.

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And those guys who designed and built this thing really did a great job."

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"It's a testament to the design and how they put it together that 50 years later this

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thing is still hauling 12 million pounds around."

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SOT: Bob Myers, crawler systems engineer: "When they built the crawler, they overbuilt it, and that's a great thing

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because it's able to last all these years."

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"I think it's a great machine that could last another 50 years if it needed to."

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"It's capable, of course, of moving a shuttle and all of its parts and the mobile launcher platform.

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I mean, we're talking about 12 million pounds, the vehicle itself being 6 million.

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You have about 18 million pounds rolling down the road."

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And as might be imagined, it takes incredible power to move that mass.

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SOT Trapp: "This is one of two 2,750 horse power, 16 cylinder Alco diesel engines.

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On the other end of these are two 1,000 kilowatt DC generators.

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So this engine and one just like it on the other end of the crawler is what makes us move."

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"These engines have about 4,000 hours on them, or so. So for a 45-year old,

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really a 50 year old engine, they're like brand new.

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Of course, we've maintained these engines, over the years very well. So these engines will go for another 50 years."

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So with all that weight in motion, what's it like to drive a crawler?

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SOT Myers: "The steering wheel's about the size of a go-cart racer. But it's all electronic, it's all fly-by-wire, so to speak.

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So, it's kind of funny you go up there and that little steering wheel's there,

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but that steering wheel turns some big cylinders, you know, moves some big trucks, so it is impressive."

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SOT Trapp: "One of the things about driving the crawler is you have to plan ahead, because obviously it doesn't turn on a dime.

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So you have to really be on your game and you have to be thinking ahead about where you want to be one,

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two, three minutes ahead of time."

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The critical nature of the long rollout to the launch pad is not lost on those who operate this huge piece of machinery.

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SOT Trapp: "It's very important that all of our 
systems function properly and safely from the time we leave the safety of the

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Vehicle Assembly Building until we get out to the launch pad. During that six hours or so while we're out on the crawlerway,

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it's pretty much just us, my team and the crawler getting the vehicle out to the pad, and it's a critical time."

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With the end of the space shuttle program in sight, soon there will be no more shuttle stacks to ferry to the launch pad.

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But to those who work on them, the trusty crawlers seem fully capable of moving future launch vehicles if called upon.

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SOT Myers: "Seeing the shuttle program come to an end really will be a sad day for us.

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The crawler actually has gone through Apollo and Shuttle,

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so it's been around for quite a long time, you know, 40 years.

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And we'd like to see it carry on to another program if they give us the capability.

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The crawler's ready to go. It can take on whatever you throw at it. "

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