In 1961, President Kennedy set a national goal of making a manned landing on the moon before the end of the decade. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was assigned the responsibility of accomplishing this awesome feat. At the time, neither the huge and extremely sophisticated flight hardware nor the supporting launch facilities existed.

While other NASA facilities tackled the job of designing and developing the Saturn V launch vehicle and the Apollo spacecraft for transporting three men to the moon, Kennedy Space Center began the design of the launch complex.

Heading the team at KSC was Dr. Kurt H. Debus, KSC director and rocketry pioneer with launch experience dating from the 1930s.

Because of the size and complications of handling the huge Saturn V rocket and the adverse environmental factors of wind, rain, highly corrosive salt air, electrical storms, and hurricanes that exist at KSC, Dr. Debus’ team departed from the conventional methods of assembly and checkout of the launch vehicles at the launch pad. He decided that the Saturn V would be assembled and checked out in a Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and then transported to the launch pad on a mobile launch pad and tower.

Conveyance of the mobile launcher and Saturn V to the pad posed no small problem in the 1960s. The rocket and launcher would weigh 12 million pounds, and the distance would be 3.5 miles to Pad A and more than 4 miles to Pad B. In addition, a portable service tower would be required to be transported to the launch pads to service the Saturn V.

Three concepts of transporting the vehicle and launcher were proposed: a barge and canal system, a rail system, and a land transporter. The task of selecting one of these three systems and then transforming a concept into reality fell to D.D. Buchanan, chief of the launcher systems and umbilical tower design section.

After a year of study, in 1962 the cross-land tracked vehicle, or crawler transporter, was determined to be the most feasible conveyance.

Early concepts showed the transporter integral with the mobile launcher, but exposure to launch damage and possible long repair periods influenced the selection of a transporter that would be completely self-powered and separate from the structures. The transporter would be the largest land vehicle ever constructed, would weigh six million pounds, and would be capable of transporting the mobile launcher with an assembled Saturn V or the mobile service structure.

In July 1962, NASA approved the crawler transporter concept, and in March 1963, a contract was awarded to Marion Power and Shovel Co., Marion, Ohio, for the construction of two transporters.