NASA and
Microsoft have joined forces to give computer users a three-dimensional look of
the space shuttle Endeavour as it is primed for a planned Wednesday launch.
Interactive
views of Endeavour, its Pad 39A launch site in Florida and of the orbiter as it
was assembled for its planned Aug. 8 launch were stitched together from hundreds
of NASA photographs using Photosynth, a new imaging software created by
Microsoft Live Labs.
"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, in a statement. "We are
looking into ways of using this new technology to support future missions."
Created by
the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft and the University of Washington, the Photosynth software is designed
to assemble between hundreds and thousands of digital images into a
three-dimensional (3-D) scene of a subject. NASA's Photosynth image collections
were created under a collaborative effort between the agency's Kennedy Space
Center spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Ames Research Center in Moffett
Field, California and Microsoft's Live Labs.
"With
Photosynth, we take pictures of an environment and knit them together into an
experience that people can move through like a 3-D video game," Microsoft
Live Labs architect Blaise Aguera y Arcas. "NASA provided us with some
outstanding images and the result is an experience that will wow anyone wanting
to get a closer look at the Endeavour and its travels."
In addition
to views of Endeavour, NASA's Photosynth collection includes views of the
Atlantis orbiter after its jumbo jet piggyback ride back to KSC following its June
22 landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the space agency said.
"We see potential to
use Photosynth for a variety of future mission activities, from inspecting the
International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope to viewing landing
sites on the moon and Mars," said Chris Kemp, director of Strategic
Business Development at Ames.
NASA's
space shuttle Endeavour is poised to
launch towards the International Space Station at 6:36 p.m. EDT (2236
GMT) on Aug. 8 to haul cargo, spare parts and a new piece of starboard-side
truss to the orbital laboratory.
Veteran
shuttle flyer Scott Kelly is commanding Endeavour's seven-astronaut STS-118
crew. The mission also marks the first flight of educator-turned-astronaut
Barbara Morgan. The former McCall, Idaho schoolteacher was originally selected
in 1985 to serve as NASA's backup Teacher in Space to New Hampshire high school
teacher Christa McAuliffe, who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger in
January 1986.
Endeavour's
up-to-14-day mission will mark NASA's second of up to four planned shuttle
flights dedicated to space station construction this year.
For more on
Microsoft Live Labs' NASA Photosynth collection, click
here.
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