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Google Street View launches users to space station
After taking users to Peru's Machu Picchu and Game of Thrones filming locations, Google Street View has recently introduced a new feature that allows its users to explore inside the International Space Station (ISS) and to see the Earth from on high.
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The dome-shaped Cupola Observational Module of the International Space Station offers a view of the Earth below. (Google/File)
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fter taking users to Peru's Machu Picchu and Game of Thrones filming locations, Google Street View has recently introduced a new feature that allows its users to explore inside the International Space Station (ISS) and to see the Earth from on high.
Among the ISS locations on offer in the new feature are the Cupola Observational Module, from where users can look at activity outside the station, the experimental Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule that transports supplies to the ISS astronauts, and the US Lab Module that serves as the primary research laboratory.
Read also: Google lets you virtually explore 'Game of Thrones' filming locations
“The ISS is a very interesting place with lots of high-tech equipment,” Thomas Pesquet, the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut who was in charge of taking photos for the Google Street View, said in a behind-the-scenes video.
“[It's a very challenging task] since we don’t have gravity in space,” said Matthew Potter, who leads the technical photography operations for Google Street View, adding that they could not use a tripod in space, where camera stabilization tools were critical to their mission.
Floating 250 miles – more than 400 kilometers – above the Earth, the ISS consists of 15 connected modules that face four different directions in a cross-like formation. The space station serves as a scientific research hub to explore space, collect data from the atmosphere and Earth's surface, observe cyclones and other weather patterns, and conduct experiments, such as how a human body reacts to microgravity. (kes)
