Google Map Service Covers Lunar Surface
Posted on: Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 21:00 CDT
NEW YORK -- Thirty-six years to the day since Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon, Google Inc. extended its mapping service to cover the lunar surface.
Google Moon won't give you driving directions or the nearest restaurants, the types of information available with Google Maps and Google Earth. But the lunar tool lets you zoom and move around - to the extent NASA has provided images for those areas.
The feature debuting Wednesday at http://moon.google.com also shows the locations of all six Apollo moon landings. Click on one to get the date and astronauts involved.
Google jokes that by July 20, 2069 - the 100th anniversary - the company will integrate its local search product with Google Moon, so users can find out about lunar businesses and other moon-related information.
It also says it is opening a lunar research center by 2007, though applicants must be "capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen."
And if you still don't believe engineers have a sense of humor, try zooming in all the way. You'll discover that the moon, indeed, is made of cheese.
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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