Crawlerway


Crawlerway
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Aerial view of Launch Complex 39. The Crawlerway is the pathway between the Vehicle Assembly Building and Pads 39A and 39B.
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Location	Brevard County, Florida United States
Nearest city	Merritt Island
Coordinates	28°36′13″N 80°37′39″W / 28.60361°N 80.62750°W / 28.60361; -80.62750Coordinates: 28°36′13″N 80°37′39″W / 28.60361°N 80.62750°W / 28.60361; -80.62750
Built	1964
MPS	John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS
NRHP Reference #	99001641^[1]
Added to NRHP	January 21, 2000

The Crawlerway is a 130-foot (40 m) wide^[2] double pathway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It runs between the Vehicle Assembly Building and the two launch pads at Launch Complex 39. It has a length of 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to Pad 39A and 4.2 miles (6.8 km) to Pad 39B. A seven-foot (2 m) bed of stones lies beneath a layer of asphalt and a surface made of Tennessee river rocks.

The Crawlerway was designed to support the weight of a Saturn V rocket and payload, plus its Launch Umbilical Tower and Mobile Launcher Platform, atop a Crawler-transporter during the Apollo Program. It was used from 1981–2011 to transport the lighter Space Shuttles to their launch pads.

Construction of the Crawlerway connected Merritt Island with the mainland, forming a peninsula. The main vehicle access road to and from the launch pads, the Saturn Causeway, runs alongside the crawlerway.

Construction

The crawlerway is composed of two 40 feet (12 m) wide lanes, separated by a 50 feet (15 m) median. The top layer is of Tennessee river gravel 4in thick on the straight sections and 8in thick on curves. Tennessee river rock was chosen due to its anti spark properties. Beneath that is 4 ft of graded, crushed stone, resting on two layers of fill.^[2] As of 2013 a project to repair and upgrade the crawlerway is in process, the first time since it was constructed that the foundation will be repaired. Additional rock has been added to the surface on June 2014.^[3]

Gallery

Crawlerway under construction in December 1963
Apollo 14 rolls to Pad 39A in November 1970
STS-98 is moved back to the VAB in January 2001
Close up of Crawlerway in April 2005; originally smooth, the rocks have been crushed after many passages by the crawler-transporters

References

↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
1 2 "NASA Facts Online, John F. Kennedy Space Center". Retrieved 13 December 2013.
↑ "Upgrades Will Prepare Crawlerway for Space Launch System". 2013-02-22. Retrieved 13 December 2013.

External links

Media related to Crawlerway at Wikimedia Commons

Spaceflight National Historic Landmarks

Alabama	Neutral Buoyancy Simulator Propulsion and Structural Test Facility Redstone Test Stand Saturn V Launch Vehicle Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand

Florida	Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Control Center Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities Crawlerway Vehicle Assembly Building Operations and Checkout Building Central Instrumentation Facility Launch Complex 39 Launch Complex 39 Press Site

Arizona	Air Force Facility Missile Site 8

California	Space Flight Operations Facility Space Launch Complex 10 Twenty-Five-Foot Space Simulator Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel USS Hornet (CV-12)

Mississippi	Rocket Propulsion Test Complex

New Mexico	White Sands V-2 Launching Site

Ohio	Zero Gravity Research Facility Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility

Texas	Apollo Mission Control Center Space Environment Simulation Laboratory

Maryland	Spacecraft Magnetic Test Facility

Virginia	Rendezvous Docking Simulator Lunar Landing Research Facility

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