Google Maps has added an incredible new location on its Street View feature by taking things to space: the International Space Station can now be seen by those who want to.
The company released a video showing a glimpse of the project behind the scenes, Christian Post reports. To make this a reality, astronauts were asked to take 360-degree panorama photos inside the International Space Station, along with pictures of the Earth from their unique perspective up in space.
Thomas Pesquet, ESA astronaut, said, “The sheer size of the space station is huge. It’s unbelievably big.” He added,
I wish people could see it with their own eyes, so that’s why in the future we hope to make it more accessible with projects like Google Street View.
Google Maps wanted to take their Street View feature to the next level, so that people can experience what it’s like to be inside the International Space Station on a personal level. There are also text descriptions that accompany the images – a first for Google Maps. These offer viewers a better understanding of what goes on inside the ISS, such as what each piece of equipment does.
Matthew Potter from Google Street View said, “We’ve mapped all over the world and really wanted to see where we could go. And why not space?”
Alice Liu, also from Google Street View, said, “The street view collection will bring to people the wonders of science and engineering and what it takes for people to go all the way up to space and look down back to us.”
Liu added that she believed it’s important for people to learn about the ISS, explaining that each component on the station had to travel separately, where they were assembled in space by the astronauts.
Viewers can take a look at 17 different areas of the International Space Station on Google Maps’ Street View.
