1 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:16,960 We're here on the Crawlerway at NASA's Kennedy\h Space Center. I'm Joshua Santora and I'll be\h\h 2 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,600 your tour guide today taking you behind the scenes\h and up close to the behemoth that uses this unique\h\h 3 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:26,800 one-of-a-kind roadway to travel from the vehicle\h assembly building about four miles out to Launch\h\h 4 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:32,320 Complex 39b. This roadway is specially designed\h with a couple layers of fill, crushed rock and\h\h 5 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:37,280 then on top you see Tennessee river rock. It\h had to be specially designed because of how\h\h 6 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:42,720 massive the crawler is, which is an essential\h part for the Artemis program. Artemis has three\h\h 7 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:48,880 major elements the Space Launch System or SLS,\h our heavy lift rocket. The Orion crew capsule\h\h 8 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,920 and Exploration Ground Systems - they're\h responsible for all the infrastructure to actually\h\h 9 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:58,240 launch. Be sure to enjoy the view and look around\h at each of our stops today. Let's crawl. \h 10 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,960 You re watching a timelapse video of our\h mobile launcher rolling out of the iconic\h\h 11 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,400 vehicle assemble building atop\h the behemoth crawler transporter.\h\h 12 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,360 Originally used to move the Saturn V\h rocket from the vehicle assembly building,\h\h 13 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:18,000 or VAB, to the launch pad, the crawlers have since\h been used to do the same for the space shuttle\h\h 14 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,280 and they recently underwent extensive\h maintenance to ensure they re ready\h\h 15 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:27,120 for the next chapter in human spaceflight. At a blistering top speed of 1 mile per hour,\h\h 16 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:33,760 these workhorses have each put in over 3,400\h miles in no more than 4-mile increments.\h\h 17 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:40,000 And being this massive, they only gets about 32 ft\h per gallon. But don t worry, they're hybrids. \h 18 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,760 You can see as it rolls by the driver\h station just above that first set of tracks.\h\h 19 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:48,400 We'll actually stop in to check out the\h view the driver gets in a few minutes. \h 20 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:56,080 Right now, you're seeing this at about seven\h times normal speed. And this is regular speed.\h\h 21 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:02,480 There's a reason we call it the crawler. To give you a little perspective on the weight,\h\h 22 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:08,320 you see what we call shoes that make up the tracks\h at each corner. Each of the 8 tracks has 57 shoes,\h\h 23 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:13,200 and each shoe weighs a ton. Literally\h one ton. I'll let you do the math on how\h\h 24 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,720 much weight for just the shoes. You re about to get a one-of-a-kind,\h\h 25 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:22,240 never before seen immersive view as the Crawler\h will roll right over us. Watch your head. \h 26 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,840 Since 1965, we've relied on a nearly\h identical pair of these crawlers,\h\h 27 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:43,440 the largest tracked vehicles in the world.\h Weighing in at over 6 million pounds each,\h\h 28 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,520 these monsters are able to haul the more\h than 11-million-pound mobile launcher\h\h 29 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:53,840 that's being carried as we speak, along with the\h 5.75-million-pound Space Launch System rocket\h\h 30 00:02:53,840 --> 00:03:03,120 and Orion spacecraft from the VAB to the pad. We're inside one of two driver seats for this\h\h 31 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:07,760 crawler. You can see the actual driving is\h pretty simple. A small wheel for direction\h\h 32 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:13,520 and a knob for speed. We're currently parked\h outside launch complex 39B where the crawler\h\h 33 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:18,000 has already set the mobile launcher\h down in place ahead on the mound. \h 34 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,640 Because of its size, we never turn the\h crawler around. We move forward to the pad,\h\h 35 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:27,280 then move the driver to the other driver\h station on the opposite corner driving backward\h\h 36 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:32,320 toward the VAB. This thing is so large, you can\h fit a professional baseball diamond on top. \h 37 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:40,240 We hope you'll continue to follow our progress\h as we work towards the first woman and next man\h\h 38 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:45,200 to walk on the surface of the moon. From NASA's\h Kennedy Space Center and for Exploration Ground\h\h 39 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:50,400 Systems program, that's all for today. Remember,\h we build, launch and recover for the next\h\h