Crawlerway | |
.jpg) Aerial view of Launch Complex 39. The Crawlerway is the pathway between the Vehicle Assembly Building and Pads 39A and 39B. | |
   | |
| 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 |
| Built | 1964 |
| MPS | John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 99001641[1] |
| Added to NRHP | January 21, 2000 |
The Crawlerway is a 130-foot-wide (40 m)[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 3.4 and 4.2 miles (5.5 and 6.8 km) to Pad 39A and Pad 39B, respectively. 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 originally designed to support the weight of the Saturn V rocket and its payload, plus the Launch Umbilical Tower and mobile launcher platform, atop a crawler-transporter during the Apollo program. It was also used from 1981 to 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.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "Mobile Launcher Platform". NASA Facts. Countdown! NASA Launch Vehicles and Facilities. NASA. October 1991. PMS 018-B. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008.