Google flies you to the moon

Google Earth can now take you to the moon.

Timed with the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk, the Internet giant on Monday released an addition to its Google Earth mapping software to provide images of moon landscapes and traces of human exploration there.

Called the Moon in Google Earth and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, the software allows you to see topographical features on our closest celestial neighbor with the lunar equivalent of Google Street View. People can also see a gallery of the Apollo space missions and get information on every robotic spacecraft that has visited the moon.

"This tool will make it easier for millions of people to learn about space, our moon and some of the most significant and dazzling discoveries humanity has accomplished together," Anousheh Ansari, a trustee of X Prize Foundation and the first female private space explorer, said Monday on a Google blog.

Google is hosting an event Monday to launch the Moon in Google Earth site at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., where Ansari and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin will speak.

To access the images from Google Earth, you select Moon from the toolbar in Google Earth. From there, the viewer zooms down to get detailed images of the moon's surface.

From the left panel, people can surface information about the moon, including historical charts used by astronauts for training and NASA mission control. High-resolution photos break down the moon's surface into different quadrants to show its features.

Images: Google Earth takes you to the moon

The tool is designed to teach people about the missions to the moon by visiting the various Apollo landing sites. After zooming into a location, people can see video clips and panoramic stills taken by the astronauts, such as Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. Aldrin also offers a guided video tour of the moon from within Google Earth.

The artifacts tab allows people to see three-dimensional models of the spacecraft that have gone to the moon.

The Moon in Google Earth project was done through Google's partnerships with NASA, which allowed researchers to develop much of the content. Japan's space agency, Jaxa, also donated the global terrain dataset for the moon.

Updated at 8:45 a.m. PDT with more details.

[MastersUniverse]

Who would have thought that after 40 years, man still has not ventured beyond the Moon? Who would want to spend their life toiling away in the name of scientific research to benefit mankind when the alternative is to strike it rich by pressing a few buttons on a Bloomberg terminal? In the past 40 years, there has been a strong negative correlation between market performance and Space development, with many top rocket scientists being lured into investment banking during the roaring go-go era. These geniuses would develop highly sophisticated vehicles such as Jupiter V, not to go into space, but to hold Collateralized Debt Obligations. The Dow has gone up more than 1300% but astronauts are still driving the same Volvo 240 into Space.

http://www.mastersuniverse.net

[ca5ter]

Now, on to Mars!

[k9jdk]

I think it's sad we haven't "let see what's out there" more than we have since man walked on the moon. Sure there are other things going on today, but there were other things going on back then too; war, disease, greed, same as today to name a few.

Lots of good things happened because of our space program. We could use a few more.

[cs2cdfan]

Google does put their revenue to good work. Thanks for the continued hard work Google, you are a classy company.

[sethum1]

After reading the title of this piece, I was hoping to learn that there would be a way of using Google Earth to navigate around the Earth, the Moon, and in between - a la Google Earth's flight sim - but you'd be moving at Saturn V speeds. I hope a rocket sim isn't out of the question for future development.

[bluemist9999]

It's an interesting idea, but since the trip to the Moon took 7 days, it would be a rather boring simulation at 1x speed, at least most of the time.

[MastersUniverse]

Who would have thought that after 40 years, man still has not ventured beyond the Moon? Who would want to spend their life toiling away in the name of scientific research to benefit mankind when the alternative is to strike it rich by pressing a few buttons on a Bloomberg terminal? In the past 40 years, there has been a strong negative correlation between market performance and Space development, with many top rocket scientists being lured into investment banking during the roaring go-go era. These geniuses would develop highly sophisticated vehicles such as Jupiter V, not to go into space, but to hold Collateralized Debt Obligations. The Dow has gone up more than 1300% but astronauts are still driving the same Volvo 240 into Space.

http://www.mastersuniverse.net

[lexuslarry]

I agree that NASA should go to Mars, however I believe that they are being held back by the government for financial reasons. Where has all of the 1 Trillion+ deficit money gone? Not on NASA, that's for sure.

Thanks to Google for taking all of the info gathered from NASA and using it in a useful way for everyone to see (for free)! If it was Microsoft Moon instead of Google, you would have to pay for it and support would last about 1 year.

NASA and Google rule!

[tushargupta_b4u]

Gee....NASA never reached moon.the biggest proof is that is didn't try that again even after 40 years.Nothing other proof is bigger than this fact........