The NASA Artemis II mission is targeted for launch as early as Feb. 6.

[akasci@fosstodon.org]

The NASA crawlers were built by the Marion Power Shovel Co., a manufacturer of steam shovels, power shovels and excavators. Their power shovels played a major role in mining, the construction of the Panama Canal and excavation of Hoover Dam and the Holland Tunnel.

The idea for a crawler-launcher platform started when a NASA engineer visited his father’s farm near Paradise, KY, and observed a giant strip mining shovel in operation.

https://pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/gem-of-egypt-shovel/
https://www.marionmade.org/2019/07/marion-power-shovel-nasa-crawler-transporter/
7/n

[baloo@sfba.social]

@AkaSci Those things have so much of a thunderbirds smell!
(came out the same year)

[akasci@fosstodon.org]

Here are a few videos of the NASA crawler-transporter in action in 2022 during the Artemis I mission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhgPs0n3phc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpHjQjbt2Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk226QwT_1k
8/n

[akasci@fosstodon.org]

Some amazing pics of NASA’s massive Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, taken on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.

All work platforms have been retracted in preparation for rollout to Launch Complex 39B at KSC in FL Saturday morning.

More pics at https://images.nasa.gov/search?q=artemis%20ii%20sls&page=1&media=image,video,audio&yearStart=2026&yearEnd=2026
9/n

[msbellows@c.im]

@AkaSci How do they move the rocket from the CT to the pad?

[akasci@fosstodon.org]

@msbellows

From https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/combined_crawler-transporters_fact_sheet_final.pdf -

"Once the CT-2 makes its eight-hour trek to the pad with engineers and technicians aboard, ML1 and SLS will be lowered onto pad mount mechanisms. After platforms are lowered and power transfers are complete, the CT-2 will roll back down the pad slope and park just outside the pad perimeter gate. CT-2 will wait there until a few days prior to launch in case a rollback is required."

Looking for a video ...

[pixelpusher220@dmv.community]

@AkaSci @msbellows I assume the crawler has a leveling mechanism for going up the pad slope while loaded?

[pixelpusher220@dmv.community]

@msbellows @AkaSci apparently no truth to the rumor they place a large hot air balloon over Congress, fill it with all the hot air and use that 🤪

[akasci@fosstodon.org]

@pixelpusher220 @msbellows
Independent hydraulic suspensions along sides and corners, raised and lowered to keep the platform level at the pad slope.

[akasci@fosstodon.org]

@msbellows

Here is a pic of the crawler with the Artemis I SLS rocket and mobile launcher and 2 pics after dropoff at the launch pad.

I suppose the crawler goes underneath the launch pad and the entire assembly is positioned on its sides at the launch pad above a hollow area, lowered on the supporting structures, detached from the crawler which then moves out.

[akasci@fosstodon.org]

Assuming the weather cooperates and all goes well, the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft atop the mobile launcher will look like this at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in FL.

The pics below are of Artemis I in 2022 during wet rehearsals.

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/exploration-ground-systems/launch-pad-39b/
10/n