WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Microsoft Corp. have launched a collaboration to develop high-resolution photographs.
NASA and Microsoft released an interactive, 3-D photographic collection Monday of the space shuttle Endeavour preparing for its upcoming mission to the International Space Station.
The photographs, for the first time, present an opportunity for people around the world to hundreds of high resolution photographs of Endeavour, Launch Pad 39A, and the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in a unique 3-D viewer. NASA said.
The imaging technology, developed by NASA and Microsoft's Live Labs team, is called Photosynth. Using a click-and-drag interface, viewers can zoom in to see details of the shuttle booster rockets or zoom out for a more global view of the launch facility.
"This collaboration with Microsoft gives the public a new way to explore and participate in America's space program," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations. "We're also looking into using this new technology to support future missions."
The NASA images are available at http://labs.live.com.
