Escape the planet with virtual space tours from NASA

Travel off your couch and out of this world, with a variety of fun and interactive virtual tours from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The agency’s website offers a multitude of intergalactic virtual adventures that transport you from self-isolation to the gaping infinity that is space.

If you’re looking to explore the various factors that lead to a flight launch, look no further than the “Go for Flight” Google Expeditions tour of the Armstrong Flight Research Center.

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This tour provides viewers with virtual access to an aircraft hangar, control room, and the back-ramp area where final preparations for flights are made.

If you’d like to transport yourself to where the action is, take a virtual tour of the International Space Station led by NASA astronaut Suni Williams.

Viewers can also participate in a virtual 3D tour of the International Space Station, where they can float through connecting modules and compartments such as space laboratories all through the perspective of a real astronaut.

Explore the unknown with the Next Stop: The Stratosphere virtual tour that takes viewers aboard NASA’s flying observatory, SOFIA, where they can investigate “stars, galaxies, black holes, and more while flying between 38,000-45,000 feet,” the NASA website explains.

Looking to get lost among the stars? Try NASA’s Exoplanet Excursions, a guided virtual tour through the breathtaking TRAPPIST-1 star system, renowned for housing seven Earth-sized planets “orbiting a star that is only a little larger than Jupiter.”

The virtual tour also includes tours of the telescope itself where viewers can control the telescope for themselves.

These are only a few examples of the variety of virtual tours that NASA has to offer.

Other options include the Exoplanet Travel Bureau virtual tour, which provides 360-degree views of the surfaces of other planets, as well as virtual tours of NASA facilities, including the Glenn Research Center as well as the Langley Research Center.

A full list of the various virtual tours offered can be found on the NASA website.