Google Street View, a popular feature of Google Maps and Google Earth, was launched in 2007 and eventually expanded to allow users to look at many interesting places around the globe, from a remote Mount Everest base camp to the Great Barrier Reef. Most of Street View’s photography is shot by a vehicle, and used more routinely to scout out potential new neighborhoods, to see where your boss lives, or to monitor traffic snarls. And now, if you’re curious, you can use Google Street View to see what life is like aboard the International Space Station, 248 miles (400 km) above Earth.
Ground Control to Major Tom:
The Street View imagery was captured by Thomas Pesquet, an astronaut with the European Space Agency. He spent six months aboard the ISS before returning to Earth in June 2017.
The virtual tour allows users to see where astronauts eat, exercise, work, and even bathe. There are also clickable dots that provide more information about what you’re seeing.
The International Space Station orbits the Earth at more than 17,500 miles per hour (28,164 km/hr) and is home to astronauts from around the world. It weighs almost a million pounds (453,592 kg) and covers an area the size of a football field.