Unless you have a quarter of a million dollars to drop on a seat in a suggestively shaped rocket, exploring the International Space Station in virtual reality is probably the closest you’ll ever get to going to space. Luckily for us normies, the experience has “stunned” actual astronauts and is absolutely free.
Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, a four-part immersive experience that takes you inside life at the International Space Station, culminates this week with the first-ever spacewalk filmed in ultra high-resolution cinematic virtual reality. In the final episode, titled “EXPAND,” you’ll follow along as ISS astronauts prepare for the walk. Then, you’ll accompany them out into the ether, floating around the station as they work.
The production studio behind The ISS Experience, Felix & Paul, won an Emmy for their work on the series, which took two years to shoot and is the largest production ever filmed in space. In September, the studio will host a 360-degree VR live stream of the launch of NASA‘s Artemis I, which will be the first the unmanned, maiden flight of the Orion spacecraft.
That livestream promises to “give viewers a one-of-a-kind front-row seat from the launch pad, enabling them to take part in this historic event by bringing them closer than any human to the SLS rocket.” It will be available to stream on Meta Quest Horizon Worlds, Facebook 360, and at more than 100 IMAX Domes and planetariums worldwide.
“The Apollo missions were televised worldwide in black and white,” said Felix Lajeunesse, co-founder and creative director of Felix & Paul Studios, “but the Artemis generation will experience the upcoming Moon missions, and future Mars missions, in an immersive and experiential way.”
You can enjoy the breathtaking The ISS Experience yourself with a Meta Quest and Meta Quest 2 headset by clicking this link. Need more space? You can also float around the International Space Station in virtual reality in Mission: ISS.
