Mountain View, California — On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to land on the moon. And on Monday, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, search engine giant Google released Moon in Google Earth, an addition to the popular Google Earth mapping software that lets you reproduce the same experience, well almost, with footage released by NASA that has been integrated in Google’s Earth application includes 3-D images of the moon’s landscape.
"Google Inc. wants you to explore the moon — virtually. Thanks to its participation with NASA, Google Earth has now includes the Moon."
It has been 40 years since Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins launched into space in Apollo 11, with the historic moon landing occurring four days later.
There is a new Moon section in Google Earth offers 3-D images of the lunar surface and digital renderings of NASA landing modules, bird’s-eye views, historic clips and loads of encyclopedic articles, all free, which lets users explore the moon in a similar way as Earth.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin gathered with Google, X Prize Foundation, and NASA officials in Washington, DC, for the inauguration ceremony of Moon in Google Earth.
"Forty years ago, two human beings walked on the moon," said Moon in Google Earth product manager Michael Weiss-Malik.
"It is now possible for anyone to follow in their footsteps. We are giving hundreds of millions of people around the world unprecedented access to an interactive 3D presentation of the Apollo missions."
In a post on the official Google blog, Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space explorer and a fiduciary of the "XPRIZE Foundation," says the software will help millions of people learn about space.
"Moon in Google Earth now empowers you to travel through lunar imagery as well as informational content about the Apollo landing sites, panoramic images shot by the Apollo astronauts, narrated tours and much more," she explains. "I believe that this educational tool is a critical step into the future, a way to both develop the dreams of young people globally, and inspire new audacious goals."
The Moon conjoins Earth, Mars, and Sky, selected from an options list in an upper tool bar on the main Web page at earth.google.com.
Aspiring astronomy enthusiasts can swiftly downloaded the free software to take virtual tours of the lunar surface. As quoted by Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, described it as a place of "magnificent desolation".
Take a Virtual Tour of the Moon in Google Earth: