Crawlerway
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Crawlerway
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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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Brevard County, Florida  United States
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| Nearest city | Merritt Island |
| Coordinates | 28°36′13″N 80°37′39″W / 28.60361°N 80.62750°WCoordinates: 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 # | 99001641 |
| Added to NRHP | January 21, 2000 |
The Crawlerway is a 130-foot (40 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 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.
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. 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.
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
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Wikipedia