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Driving A Slow Giant One Last Time

The last space shuttle launch is planned for July 8. But the shuttle Atlantis’ final trek to the launch pad is Tuesday night. It’s a historic milestone for NASA — and a very personal one for the people in charge of taking the shuttle on this first leg of its final journey.

The shuttle, its solid rocket boosters, and its fuel tank are all put together in NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building, a tall hangar-like structure several miles away from the pad. The fully-assembled shuttle is a huge, heavy, and delicate object — and it needs to be transported standing upright.

So it travels on top of the crawler, which looks like a cross between a flatbed truck and a tank. The crawler guzzles gas — going only 32 feet per gallon — and is the biggest self-powered land vehicle in the world.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling. You hate to see anything come to an end,” says Bill Couch, one of only six people certified to drive the crawler. (via NPR)

(Photo: The crawler begins the long journey towards Launch Pad 37B with Space Shuttle Discovery in April 2005 / NASA)