rocket launch

Ever wondered what the inside of NASA’s Transporter Crawler looks like?

In 2014, I was part of a NASA Social event, and as part of the “insider” tour we got to go inside and look around in the Crawler that was used for Apollo and the Space Shuttle, and is now used for Artemis.

The treads of a NASA Transporter-Crawler
A Transporter-Crawler powering a Saturn V
The huge size of the Transporter-Crawler relative to a person
Transporter-Crawler 2 has an odometer, but I could not work out the units.
A wider view of a Transporter Crawler with a person beneath it
The Transporter-Crawler has a steering wheel.
Some of the computer monitoring of the Transporter Crawler.
Part of the engine room. The diesel engines were HUGE
The driver’s seat of a Transporter-Crawler
More of the computer controls for a Transporter-Crawler
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United Launch Alliance launched the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-T advanced weather satellite for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at 4:28pm local time on an Atlas V 541 from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rises in the sky, carrying NOAA’s GOES-T weather observation satellite on March 1, 2022

Photo ©2022 Charles Boyer / Creative Commons-Attribution license
Atlas V 541 just after solid rockets were jettisoned. It was carrying NOAA’s GOES-T weather observation satellite towards orbit on March 1, 2022
You can clearly see the strap-on boosters falling away from the main rocket — this is not an uncommon sight when the lighting is right.
Photo ©2022 Charles Boyer / Creative Commons-Attribution license
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SpaceX Starlink Group 4-12 mission March 19, 2022

Storms cleared just in time for SpaceX to launch more Starlink satellites tonight from Cape Canaveral. Perfect launch but a photo fail here, I think. The launch itself was totally blown out — too bright — but I learned something and had a little fun. That’s really all that matters. FWIW, this is unfiltered straight out of the camera.

— at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40.

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