Take A 360-Degree Tour Of The Space Station With These Stunning Interactive Panoramas

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released a series of incredible interactive videos that enable people to take a panoramic tour of the International Space Station.

While the stunning videos can be viewed on a virtual reality headset, they can also be explored on YouTube, Flickr or Facebook on a computer (preferably on ‘full screen’) or by swiping around the screen on a smartphone.

ESA started releasing 360 tours of the different pods that make up the space station last year and has just added the Unity module.

Unity first launched into space in 1988 aboard space shuttle Endeavour and was joined by the Russian Zarya module two day later, forming the basis of the ISS.

Other available 360-degree tours available include ESA’s Columbus module, which is the portion of the ISS where European astronauts carry out experiments.

The photos were taken last year by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti who snapped up to 15 pictures inside each module of the space station.

The images were then digitally stitched together to form interactive panoramas.

Viewers can explore the modules and zoom in to see more detail or use the map or the arrow icons by the module hatches to move into another section of the ISS.

Image credit: ESA