Crawler-transporters built by NASA to carry the Saturn V rockets and Space Shuttles to the launch pad are still the largest self-powered land vehicles in the world.

A closer look

Crawler-transporters built by NASA to carry the Saturn V rockets and Space Shuttles to the launch pad are still the largest self-powered land vehicles in the world. Weighing over six million pounds each, these mechanical behemoths consume roughly one hundred and twenty-six gallons of diesel fuel per mile and travel at a maximum speed of one mile per hour when fully loaded. They are basically incredibly expensive, heavily armored metal turtles that get the worst gas mileage in the history of the universe. The government spent fourteen million dollars in 1965 to build a vehicle that can be effortlessly outpaced by a sedated sloth, all in the name of space exploration. It takes these crawling beasts nearly an entire working day just to move a rocket four miles down a perfectly flat gravel road, which is ironically the exact same pace as morning rush hour traffic in Los Angeles!