Infinite, a new virtual reality experience in Houston, puts you on the Space Station
Yanira D. Kivi
4 min read
A new virtual reality exhibit offers Houstonians a perspective that only 251 people have experienced: life on the International Space Station.
Wearing a VR headset, participants can enjoy breakfast with crew members, throw a microgravity soccer ball, and step out of the protection of the station for a breathtaking view of planet Earth.
“There is something inherently emotional about this experience that could only be delivered by virtual reality,†said Félix Lajeunesse, co-founder of Felix and Paul Studios. “I don’t think an experience as powerful, as unique as this will ever quite translate into a movie. He must be in a state of total immersion.
The Infinite uses more than 200 hours of movies taken aboard the International Space Station to create a roaming virtual reality exhibit at Silver Street Studios in Sawyer Yards. Wearing an Oculus VR headset, visitors walk around a replica of the International Space Station to see different clips of how astronauts live, work and play in microgravity.
The exhibition was created through a joint venture between Felix and Paul Studios, an immersive entertainment studio that uses virtual reality to tell stories, and the cultural and artistic hub of PHI Studio. The two companies are based in Montreal, Canada, and they hosted The Infinite in their hometown from July 21 to November 7.
It opened to the public in Houston for its U.S. debut on December 21 and will be in town until February 20, although officials hope to extend the show in Houston until spring before touring the United States.
“It was precisely the city that made the most sense,†said Eric Albert, CEO and Managing Director of PHI Studio. “This is NASA’s hometown. It is the City of Space.
The experience begins with NASA astronaut Anne McClain describing how she felt as she prepared to fly to the International Space Station.
Then, the participants put on their virtual reality headset. They can see themselves as an avatar. Friends and family avatars are gold so they can be distinguished from other avatars, which are blue.
Wearing the helmets, visitors to the new space station make their way to a physical illuminated arch at Silver Street Studios. And as they cross below, the ground disappears beneath their feet and is replaced by stars and the vastness of space.
Albert enjoys watching people’s reactions to this particular place. Some people are afraid of falling while others are in a state of astonishment and admiration. Children tend to rush off feeling completely at ease (the experience is open to children 8 years and older).
“The feedback is simply invaluable,†he said.
There are 6,750 square feet to walk through and luminescent spheres can be seen inside and outside the space station. When a participant touches one of these spheres, he or she is taken to an experience filmed at that precise location on the actual space station.
No two experiences are the same.
“When people discuss their experience afterwards,†said Albert, “people will have lived and seen very different things. “
To capture these images on the actual International Space Station, Felix and Paul Studios had to build special equipment that would operate in microgravity. On Earth, for example, the heat created by a camera is pulled down by gravity. But in space, it would stay inside the electronics, so the cameras needed a system that would remove heat.
To make the cameras easier for astronauts to use, Felix and Paul Studios also created a capability for ground crews to adjust shutter speed and exposure in space.
Then the astronauts were asked to talk to the camera as if they were talking to a friend.
“It’s ultimately about making viewers feel like one of them,†Lajeunesse said. “These are particularly special and intimate moments where you really feel like the crew is talking to you.”
After the free roaming experience, participants sit and watch a spacewalk led by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide . This is experienced in virtual reality, but the participants sit down, because it is a moment of contemplation.
This is the moment when Albert hopes people will feel the big picture effect, a phenomenon some astronauts experience when they see the fragile planet from above without borders dividing it into countries. It may change their perspective on the importance of protecting the planet and the realization that humanity shares the same challenges and opportunities, regardless of nationality.
“If we can recreate even a fraction of that emotion, we will have achieved our goal,” said Albert. “And our goal is really to educate people about the planet we live on. It’s the only one we have.
Images inside the space station were filmed from January 2019 to early May 2021. Exterior images were captured in August and September of this year by attaching a space-hardened camera to the robotic arm of the Canadian Space Agency.
After the spacewalk, visitors take off their helmets and browse a few final art exhibits. Most people will spend an hour at The Infinite.
Tickets range from $ 30 to $ 55, depending on the time and day of the week. It is wheelchair accessible (although motorized wheelchairs are not allowed) and the vast majority of participants do not suffer from motion sickness. Comfortable shoes are recommended; high heels and backpacks are not allowed.
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