Google gave Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center a 50th birthday present Thursday, putting 6,000 vivid, panoramic views of the legendary facility on Google Street View. Now that the space shuttle fleet is retired, Kennedy’s mission will change, so these Street View images are among the last views of the site that launched the first era of the Space Age. Here are five snapshots we took while sneaking around.
(at top) Up close with the Space Shuttle Endeavour in the Vehicle Assembly Building
A retro mural outside Launch Firing Room #4.
At the controls in Launch Firing Room #4.
Space Shuttle hydraulic fluid and blurred-out signs at the bottom of the launch pad.
The view from the top of the launch pad.