Just a week ago, we had the introduction of the new Moon in Google Earth. A few days later we saw the release of the basic Lunar Rover game. And, now, an awesome lunar lander game by the same guy who brought you the fantastic ships simulator game back in May. Leveraging the tools he had developed for Ships, Paul van Dinther has created a fun lunar lander game which includes sounds and instruments, and lets you test your skills at landing the Apollo 11 Eagle lander. The game, called Apollo 11 Moon Lander 
, uses real audio clips from the Apollo missions, and has some nice touches when you run out of fuel, or land too hard. Moon Lander really shows off the power of the Google Earth API for games and simulators. Here’s a short video demo showing a successful landing:
Tips: Use Space bar to fire the engine. Use left and right arrow keys to rotate the lander. Land with the arrow inside the green area for your vertical speed. To get some practice, click the Unlimited fuel checkbox below. Advanced users: try using the up and down arrow keys. Also, on my computer, Firefox runs considerably better than Chrome for the GE plugin. Your results may vary.
Google Earth Blog had a hand in testing and providing feature suggestions during Paul’s development of the game. Paul is a talented developer and develops simulation software professionally. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to leave comments here. Paul will be checking for feedback. I think he’s done a great job!
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
Awesome game, but I find it a bit too easy. It didn’t take many attempts to land the …lander. I think it will be a bit more challenging if it wasn’t so perfectly aligned so you would be forced to use the up and down arrow keys as well.
Otherwise quite cool 🙂
Wow, this made me have an Astro Chicken flashback.
It’s not so easy for everyone. Try the advanced tips to see how you can make it more challenging. Also, can you beat my best score? 15,990
Very nice game! My score was 33,330 once with unlimited fuel. 🙂
Very cool!
I would like to put this game on my site, or at least allow my readers the option to play, do you mind if i give the info from this post to my readers?