VR or virtual reality gaming has become popular among gamers across the globe for offering a realistic experience. But virtual reality can also provide another type of experience where you can explore situations and places, which is way beyond your reach.
Space, on the other hand, offers its own subset of experiences. These experiences range from giving you the authority to curve all the planets to your will to letting you board the ISS or International Space Station.
Space exploration or space tourism is a deluxe activity accessible by all wealthy people. For many, exploring space is like a dream come true, but now, it’s possible because of virtual reality.
The VR studios and the producers are currently leveraging VR power through immersive space tourism or space tours. This offers all ordinary people a chance to explore beyond the Earth through the VR space experiences.
Explore space travel with Virtual Reality!
If you want to discover the place beyond the blue planet, you can check out these space VR experiences mentioned under this section. You will get the opportunity to enjoy space travel right from your bedroom.
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Space dream Virtual Reality [VR]
Australian 3D artist and game developer Justin Davis decided to give all fellow space lovers a chance to explore space like no other. He single handedly created “Lucid Space Dreams“, a VR game back in 2013.
This was the time when Oculus Rift was released for the first time. Many people say that this is one of the best ways to offer space tourism for all ordinary people. “Lucid Space Dreams” was a prototype for “Space Dream“, the later virtual reality game developer.
In this game, the player gets to play the character “Jason”, an astronaut who woke up from his cryo-sleep after he arrived at an unknown planet within an exploration vessel.
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Space Explorers: The ISS Experience
When people want to check out space tourism through VR, the “Space Explorers: The ISS Experience” is worth checking out. This was filmed on the ISS, or International Space Station will allow you to check out how life exactly is at the space station through the Oculus Quest or the Oculus Quest 2 headsets.
The documentary has only two episodes, each of them is of 4½ hours. The “Space Explorers: An ISS Experience” will give you insights into how life is at the space station. It’s non-interactive, and you are confined from going back and forth through each timeline of the documentary.
This documentary is worth checking out, not because of how amazing it feels to be on the International Space Station, even when you cannot explore it freely. But it’s also since it delves happily into the prosaic. The documentary contains interviews that will offer more information about life in the ISS, and the final episode is all set to carry a spacewalk.
The quieter moments in the documentary are also crucial. The moments include a crew member’s sadness over his/her comrade’s exit. This is framed with an illustrative scene where all the crew members eat together. Due to the close-ups feature on the VR, it will make you feel as if you’re right there with them. Even though this is two-year-long footage, which has been properly edited out, it still contains a level of honesty.
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Zero 2 Infinity
When the topic is about space tourism or space travel, Zero 2 Infinity offers one of the best. It was founded back in 2009 by Jose Mariano Lopez-Urdiales, an aerospace engineer.
The Spanish company is well-known for operating high-altitude balloons to access the low-Earth and near-space orbit with the balloon-borne launcher and a pod. It’s a test conducted for commercial companies and scientific institutions.
Zero 2 Infinity’s launch system doesn’t have a massive impact on the planet’s environment, and you will find videos on Zero 2 Infinity on platforms like YouTube that shows their balloon launch.
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A visit to Jupiter and its moons
The channel of VR 360 TV is dedicated to all the VR 360 videos. The videos are available in 4K, and it shows an outstanding space journey to the planet Jupiter and its moons. You will hear a sober and exquisite piano score played in the background, and you travel back and forth between its moon and the giant planet itself. This is ideal for all individuals interested in space tourism or space travel.
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RMM or Red Mast Media
This is a reputed media production firm based in Germany and the UK. The creative director of this company has a lot of experience as a project engineer for BBC on all the nation-wide programs. From there, he was transferred to the entertainment and news editor and photographer, which he held for over a decade.
RMM’s video offers a geeky or technical appearance to space travel by displaying a dashboard of metrics, controls and graphs while you float over planet Earth. You will also become engaged with radio interaction with bizarre teammates. Once you get off the spaceship, you will board a terrain vehicle and go for a ride. RMM’s video will surely give you an authentic experience as a futuristic astronaut.
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Mission: ISS
Do you want to roam around the ISS or International Space Station? Through “Mission: ISS“, you can surely do so. You can navigate around the International Space Station with a joystick. When you push yourself using the numerous wall-mounted bars, it will offer you an authentic experience.
The detailing of Mission: ISS is outstanding and you will get the chance to play with the docking arm of the ISS. But if you want a brutal experience, spacewalking is something that you should give a try. You will find the stars textured clearly, but it will make you feel so real when you go out there.
The only thing that will keep you within the environs of the International Space Station is the SAFER pack and some hand-grips. The coolest part is that you will get to experience “ALL THIS” for free, and there is NO in-app purchase available as well.
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Discovering Space 2
Discovering Space 2 will make you feel like you’re roaming around in a Solar System on a spaceship. At the same time, it might make you feel as if it’s an amusement park ride instead of an actual space voyage. But the unique thing about Discovery Space 2 is that the ride feels like an innovative computer-assisted one. If you want tickets, you have to wait at least two years.
You can explore the Solar System at your own will or get to follow the guided tours, which Discovering Space 2 has in-store. When you roam the space on your own, you can travel at an elusive speed, if you wish to reach Jupiter or Mars within minutes.
Pointing yourself towards the planet, you will be informed how many minutes it will take to get to that particular planet. While traveling, you will just gaze at the blackness right through the cockpit. What else can we do? Well, you can fly all the way down to all the planets. The surface texture of these planets is of low resolution as well. Discovery Space 2 is worth exploring, and you will surely enjoy visiting every planet in the solar system.
Wrapping Up
Normal people don’t have to feel heartbroken when they cannot explore space in person. It’s because, through virtual reality or VR, you will get the chance to explore beyond the blue planet like never before. The VR space experiences listed in this article are worth checking out. You will not get to explore the planets but also get to roam around the International Space Station.
