Google adds ISS to Street View

In Google Street View you can now explore the International Space Station (ISS), you may explore all of its 15 modules.

Unlike an earthbound lab, the ISS design isn’t bound by gravity and that means that you do indeed need a full 360-degree view to take it all in. Sadly, Google’s controls sometimes make it a bit hard to do so, given that the Street View system wasn’t exactly built for this kind of experience.

As usual, you can use the usual mouse and keyboard to navigate, like so:

• To change where you’re looking, drag in any direction
• To zoom in or out, turn your mouse’s scroll wheel (or press + or –)
• When you see a white rectangle on your cursor, click to jump to that spot
• When you see a bullseye dot, click it for a written description. (Click the dot again to hide the description panel.)

As it turns out, exploring with Street View on the ISS isn’t like looking at pictures or videos of the space station. Because you have control of where you’re looking and going, it’s a far more immersive experience, and gives you a much better feeling of what it’s actually like to be there.

So head over to Google Maps and give it a try.