Now’s your chance to (virtually) step inside the Space Shuttle Discovery.
To commemorate the 34th anniversary of the shuttle’s first launch on Thursday, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and Google Arts & Culture released a 360-degree video that lets viewers peer inside Discovery, alongside the astronauts who helped deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. You can adjust the video resolution up to 8K.
‘Discovery flew every kind of mission the Space Shuttle was designed to fly, from Hubble’s deployment to the delivery and assembly of International Space Station modules and more,’ said Ellen R. Stofan, the John and Adrienne Mars director of the National Air and Space Museum, in a statement. ‘Today, we’re celebrating the orbiter’s 39 missions and 365 total days in space with this special immersive film, 15 digital exhibits, virtual tours, and over 200 online artifacts.’
The video was captured with Google’s Halo camera, and features astronauts Charlie Bolden and Kathy Sullivan talking about their experience on Discovery. This is the first time the two have come aboard the spacecraft together in 28 years.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been deemed one of the most critical scientific tools in history. It collected data that helped expand our understanding of the solar system and universe.
Discovery is currently on display at the Smithsonian. Its maiden voyage started on Aug. 30, 1984. It’s last mission was in March 2015.
‘As we enter a new era of spaceflight in the years ahead — with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and the development of Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope — I hope this new collection demonstrates the remarkable progress we’ve made toward unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and how much farther we can go together,’ Stofan said.