BriefTea
Every story in sixty words
Get the free app no ads · no paywallExplained in plain English
Why is the rocket so slow?
Moving a giant rocket like the Space Launch System to its launchpad is a delicate dance. It's not about speed, but precision and safety. The crawler-transporter, a huge tracked vehicle, ensures the rocket and its mobile launcher are moved without a hitch, preventing any damage to the incredibly complex and expensive machinery before launch.
Stories that explain this
Artemis II rocket crawled at under 1 mph, returned at 25,000 mphRelated explainers
What is the Artemis programme? What is the Orion capsule? Why does it return so fast? What's a crawler-transporter? How big is the Starship rocket? What is a commercial rocket? Why are diagnoses so slow? Why do F1 cars slow down?The full catalogue
Browse every card filed under R →We would like to count visits and see which links bring readers here. That means storing a random ID in your browser. No cookies, no ads, no profile. How it works.