One of NASA’s Apollo-era rocket transport vehicles has set a Guinness World Record as the heaviest self-propelled vehicle in the world.
On March 29, Guinness World Records awarded NASA a certificate for the Crawler-Transporter 2, which weighs 3,106 tons, equivalent to 1,000 pickup trucks. However, this record was established a decade ago.
NASA employees celebrate the record of the Crawler-Transporter 2. (Photo: NASA).
According to Guinness, the vehicle’s weight increased due to upgrades completed on March 23, 2016, which included the replacement of two massive engines that power its four track assemblies and reinforcement of several other systems. These upgrades contributed to the vehicle’s current weight.
Historically, NASA’s two crawler vehicles shared the record after being built by Marion Power Shovel in 1966. The duo was initially designed to transport the Apollo Saturn V rockets and mobile launch platforms from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to launch pads 39A or 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At that time, each vehicle weighed approximately 2,700 tons.
Although 320 tons lighter than the current Crawler-Transporter 2, both vehicles belong to a separate category. Later land vehicles are larger and heavier but require external power sources to operate. In contrast, NASA’s crawler generates all of its own power.
In 1973, the two crawler vehicles transitioned to transporting smaller and lighter Space Shuttle components. Today, Crawler-Transporter 2 is designated to transport the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the mobile launch platform for NASA’s Artemis program. Most recently, Crawler-Transporter 2 transported the launch vehicle assembly for the Artemis 1 mission in November 2022. Going forward, the crawler will support Artemis 2, NASA’s first crewed mission to the Moon in over 50 years.
The crawler measures 40 by 35 meters, with an adjustable height of up to 8 meters. Due to the heavy loads it carries, the crawler takes between 8 to 12 hours to travel the 6.8 kilometers from the VAB to the launch pad at a speed of 1.6 km/h. “Anyone interested in machinery will appreciate the engineering achievement that is the crawler transporter,” shared Shawn Quinn, NASA’s Ground Systems Program Manager.
