Crawlerway

Crawlerway
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Crawlerway at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39
Location:	Brevard County, Florida United States
Nearest city:	Merritt Island
Coordinates:	28°36′13″N 80°37′39″W
Built:	1964
Governing body:	NASA
NRHP Reference#:	99001641
Added to NRHP:	January 21, 2000

The Crawlerway is a 100-foot (30 m) wide 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 Alabama river rocks.

The Crawlerway was designed to support the weight of a Saturn V rocket and payload, plus its Launch Umbilical Tower and Mobile Launch 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.

References

• Florida, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, 2004, pg 186
• Brevard County listings at nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com

• Crawlerway at Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs

Gallery

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  Looking back toward the VAB just after STS-114 rolled out of the VAB for the pad

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  Up close photo of the Crawlerway after STS-114 left the VAB for the pad

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  STS-36 on the Crawlerway on its way from the VAB to Pad 39A in 1990

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  Crawler-transporter