Explore the moon yourself
When we all marvelled at the images of the moon surface beamed back to earth 40 years ago, who’d have thought that a mere four decades later ordinary people would be able to explore the moon for themselves whenever they wanted, albeit virtually?
Well, Google has made it happen, adding the moon to Google Earth. Developed in conjunction with the NASA Ames Research Center and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Moon in Google Earth lets you take tours of landing sites (narrated by Apollo astronauts), view 3D models of landed spacecraft, zoom into 360-degree photos to see astronauts’ footprints, and watch rare TV footage of the Apollo missions.
To use this new feature, you’ll need to download Google Earth 5.0 if you haven’t already. You can then access the new feature moon by clicking on the planet icon from the top toolbar and selecting Moon.
Gail Lipscombe has worked for some of Australia's hottest tech magazines for over 10 years. In her blog, she focuses on demystifying technology, gadgets and the web for average consumers.