NASA’s massive rocket launcher is a record-breaking big boy

NASA crawler carrier 2 was originally Designed to carry Saturn V rockets during the Apollo program For nearly 60 years. The old giant recently got a much needed upgrade to to support Artemis SLS The huge onebeating his twin craft to set a world record.

On Wednesday, Guinness World Records presented the NASA teams at the Kennedy Space Center with a certificate confirming that, in a huge way 6.65 million pounds (3 million kg), NASA announced in a statement.

“Anyone interested in machinery can appreciate the engineering marvel that is the crawler conveyor,” Exploration Ground Systems program manager Sean Quinn said in the release. “This crawler captured the world’s attention during the Artemis I mission when it carried the rocket and spacecraft that will send our astronauts to the moon to the launch pad.”

But where would Crawler Transporter 2 be without the original sidekick? In 1965, Crawler Carrier 1 and 2 made their first appearance together, ferrying NASA rockets to Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The couple was later Nicknamed Hans and Franz, they are two bodybuilders from a famous celebrity Saturday Night Live drawing, according to Collecting space.

In 2012, Franz, OR Crawler Carrier 2, submission has begunga major shift In order to support NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket designed for Transporting humans to the moon For the first time in over 50 years. After its glow, the car gained some extra weight. It went from being a heavily built 5.95 million pound vehicle to a record-breaking 6.65 million pound super hot car –The same weight as 1,000 pickup trucks.

“NASA crawlers were impressive pieces of machinery when they were designed and built in the 1960s,” John Giles, NASA’s director of crawler operations, said in the release. “And thinking about the work they’ve done for Apollo and the shuttle and now Artemis over the past six decades makes them even more amazing.”

Because of how heavy the crawler transmission is, it’s mainly a vehicle crawls on its way to the launch pad. The missile-carrying vehicle takes about eight to 12 hours to drive the 4.2 miles (6.7 kilometers) from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad, at a slow, steady speed of 1 mile per hour (1.6 kilometers per hour). It may take a shorter time to walk this distance on foot.

Crawler Carrier 2 successfully and repeatedly, It accompanied the SLS rocket and Orion capsule for its inaugural launch during the Artemis 1 mission in November 2022. Today, the crawler is being prepared for Artemis 2 (scheduled for release in November 2024) by “replacing ‘shoes’ On the two big tracks, the crawler rolls, performs wear control on the truck’s interior, and carries a moving launcher before stacking the SLS and Orion top,” NASA writes.

Guinness Book of Records record –And new shoes? Crawler Carrier 2 kills him, and We can’t wait to see her slowly make her way back to the plate.

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