How does the Spacecraft get to the Launch Pad?

Do they tow it there and then move it so it's facing the sky?

If your talking about the Shuttle, it gets moved on a huge crawler from the Hanger where it is prepped for launch. Here is a pic or two:





And the link to a site giving some info:

Space Shuttle Crawler

How do they get it on the crawler?

With a reet big crane i expect.

That crawler thing is quite an impressive piece of gear!

As the director of this thread asked - hows does the Shuttle get on the Crawler?

Dallas

Ok...

Inside the VAB, there are four bays which would house the Orbiter, the External fuel tank and the two solid rocket boosters. The rocket boosters are shipped in and assembled on the launch platform, alongside the fuel tank. The orbiter is then hoisted in and attached to these parts:

The first two parts of the shuttle assembled inside the Vehicle Assembly Building are the solid rocket boosters and the external fuel tank. The rocket boosters are shipped to the Kennedy Space Centre in sections and must be assembled and bolted to the mobile launch platform. They will serve to hold everything together until launch.

The external fuel tank, the only disposable section of the shuttle, is shipped by barge and stored in one of the bays of the VAB. When ready, it is attached to the solid rocket boosters. The final step in the assembling process is attaching the orbiter.

VAB:



Artist rendered cutaway showing assembly:



The Orboter being hoisted into position:



Source

Wow, that's crazy. Thanks for the help.

Hey people, some real excellent pictures posted - great stuff!

Dallas

wow...
i always did wonder how they did that.
thnks for the pics and info.

loq

thats a rather odd avatar, but i like it

fiddy & Banks

Its a very very slow process, don't they say that the giant crawler moves 1mph?

Its the whole countdown part.

When I first saw that thing in some movie it was mindboggling. That crawler is absolutely massive! And how it is actually capable of moving the shuttle into position amazes me. Whats most amazing is how they can use a crane to lift the space shuttle into position. It always amazed me what kinds of stuff NASA came up with.

Originally posted by cyberdude78
When I first saw that thing in some movie it was mindboggling. That crawler is absolutely massive! And how it is actually capable of moving the shuttle into position amazes me. Whats most amazing is how they can use a crane to lift the space shuttle into position. It always amazed me what kinds of stuff NASA came up with.

Take no offense.
Get one nerd, he's teased; but get hundreds and they come up with NASA.

When I was on a trip to KSC in the early '90s I saw the crawler. Up close and personal from about 50 feet away. There is a long gravel roadway leading from the assembly building to the pad. This thing moves like 3mph. It was on it's way back from the pad so it was empty but still it was damn impressive, especially the huge electric motors that drive it. I doubt if you can get anywhere near as close nowdays though.

I know my family was going to be in Daytona Florida, they were going to watch the shuttle lift off, but it was delayed.

Thats something I would love to see.

Originally posted by Veltro
When I was on a trip to KSC in the early '90s I saw the crawler. Up close and personal from about 50 feet away. There is a long gravel roadway leading from the assembly building to the pad. This thing moves like 3mph. It was on it's way back from the pad so it was empty but still it was damn impressive, especially the huge electric motors that drive it. I doubt if you can get anywhere near as close nowdays though.

actually it has a top speed of 1.000000 mph. (all the zero's make it look fast) lol

I went to Florida a few years back and saw the crawler...it was empty and sitting outside on its gravel road, I was on a tour bus, we drove past it and the guide pointed it out...they never stopped the bus though...so that was as close to it as I got.

When we were in Florida about 15 years ago, we did the Kennedy tour. We got to see the crawler on the pad with the shuttle sitting on it. We were about a week early for launch, and a day late for movement, but it was still an impressive site to see the shuttle and crawler out there.

its takes about a day to move the shuttle over to the luanch pad with the crawler. I was down in florida about 2 years ago and saw the crawler taking the shuttle over to the pad. It was sweet site to see. Oh interesting tid bit of info for yah the US flag that was painted on the side of the VAB well one of the stripes is big enough to drive a full sized tour bus down. just to give u and idea on how tall that things is i think i heard 52 stories once before.

Originally posted by cyberdude78
Whats most amazing is how they can use a crane to lift the space shuttle into position. It always amazed me what kinds of stuff NASA came up with.

Out of interest, and not meaning any disrespect or offence, whats amazing about how NASA can use a crane to position the shuttle? I mean, the Shuttle and related fueltanks etc arent exactly an outsized load, and the cargo isnt loaded in until its upright, the fueltank is empty for the entire journey out to the launchpad etc. You will probably find larger loads being moved daily via crane all over the world in quarries, docks etc.

I dont know if I think differently to most, but everything NASA uses seems logical and well thought out, but hardly revolutionary or amazing

lol ive seen it too its one of the most massive things man has ever built i think

the scale is like standing in front of the pyramids
the building they assemble it in is the craziest thing of all, imo lol