Google Maps Street View Now Lets You Explore Space

Wondering what the International Space Station (ISS) looks like, starting today you can explore the ISS on Google Maps through Street View.

Thomas Pesquet, Astronaut at the European Space Agency (ESA), spent six months at the ISS and captured the Street View imagery in zero gravity to help people discover and explore the experience of being in a spaceship.

A first-of-its-kind initiative by Google and ESA, showcases images of the interiors of the ISS and allows users to experience what it’s like to look down on Earth from outer space. The Street View imagery in Google Maps is supported with handy little dots which on clicking launches a note that explains additional information or fun facts.

The Street View team worked with NASA at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas and Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama to design a gravity-free method of collecting the imagery using DSLR cameras and equipment already on the ISS.

The still photos collected from the ISS were sent down to Earth where they were stitched together to create panoramic 360-degree imagery of the ISS.

extravehicular-mobility-units

The above image shows Joint Airlock (Quest). This area contains space suits also known as Extravehicular Mobility Units. They provide crew members with life support that enables extravehicular activity.

For over 16 years, astronauts have been working and living on the ISS, a structure which is made up of 15 connected modules, that floats 250 miles above the Earth.

The ISS acts as a base for space explorations—possible future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids. ISS also acts as a reservoir that collects data on the Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and land surface.