Google Street View explores NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Feel like visiting the Space Coast's most famous places? Google's Street View has unveiled some behind-the-scene panoramic views of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Space shuttle fans should enjoy seeing the storied orbiters in the final months of their decommissioning from the space center, says Google's Ryan Falor, who heads the mapping effort's special collections team.

The Street View images tour the center's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) ("ginormous", Falor says) as well as shuttle launch pads and control rooms. About 6,000 photos were taken for the effort, part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

"We really try to bring people a lot closer to the launch pad," Falor says. His favorite was the zip-line basket meant for emergency crew escapes -- in emergencies they were intended to travel from the top of the space shuttle to an armored rescue vehicle on the ground. "Apparently it was a pretty rough ride," he adds.

"It's quite fitting we did this around the 50th anniversary," Falor concludes, noting the images show a time and facilities from the end of the space shuttle era, before Atlantis and Endeavor headed to the museum, and some facilities headed for the wrecking ball. "There's a tremendous amount of history there," he says.