04/30/2026
April 30– Undoubtedly the record of the largest and the most expensive mode of transportation associated with Marion is held by the two crawler-transporters manufactured in 1966 by the Marion Power Shovel Company at a cost of $16 million each ($160 million in 2026 dollars) for use at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Designed to transport Saturn V rockets on their mobile launch platforms 3.5 miles from the Vertical Assembly Building to the Launch Pad, the crawler-transporters began operation in 1966. Nicknamed Hans and Franz, the transporters were manufactured and fully assembled in Marion before being disassembled and shipped to Florida. The gigantic machines, which were the world’s largest tracked vehicle at the time, weighed 6.6 million pounds with a length of 131 feet and a width of 113 feet with a flat upper deck roughly the size of a baseball diamond. They were powered by two 2,750 horsepower engines. Following the end of the Apollo and Skylab programs, the transporters were reconfigured for use with the space shuttle program. After traveling more than 2,470 miles in roughly seven-mile-round-trips, the transporters have since received additional modifications for future space programs including the Artemis II flight around the moon.
America 250-OH: Marion is a community-wide commemoration of the nation's 250th anniversary, co-led by Marion Community Foundation and Marion Area Convention & Visitors Bureau to showcase the remarkable ways Marion has shaped the American story. Learn more at http://visitmarionohio.com
