KSC-00pp0085

One of two new payload transporters for Kennedy Space Center sits on the dock at Port Canaveral. In the background is a cruise ship docked at the Port. The transporters were shipped by barge from their manufacturer, the KAMAG Company of Ulm, Germany. They are used to carry spacecraft and International Space Station elements from payload facilities to and from the launch pads and orbiter hangars. Each transporter is 65 feet long and 22 feet wide and has 24 tires divided between its two axles. The transporter travels 10 miles per hour unloaded, 5 miles per hour when loaded; it weighs up to 172,000 pounds when the canister with payloads rides atop. The transporters will be outfitted with four subsystems for monitoring the environment inside the canister during the payload moves: the Electrical Power System, Environmental Control System, Instrumentation and Communications System, and the Fluids and Gases System. Engineers and technicians are being trained on the transporter's operation and maintenance. The new transporters are replacing the 20-year-old existing Payload Canister Transporter system