Courtesy of Space Explorers: The Infinite
If you’ve ever wanted to be an astronaut or simply been curious about what it’s like inside the International Space Station, Space Explorers: The Infinite is for you. Located at Pullman Yards, it’s a virtual reality headset-based experience that transports visitors nearly 250 miles above earth to learn about astronauts’ experiments, exercise routines, and everyday life.
“You are invited to step into the astronauts’ intimate reality up there in space. You feel as if you were another crew member,” says Félix Lajeunesse, co-founder and chief creative officer of Felix & Paul Studios, producer of the exhibit. “You begin to feel like you belong to this group of extraordinary human beings sent in Earth’s orbit to push the boundaries of exploration.”
The 45-minute immersive will be offered in Atlanta until August, following stops in Toronto, Vancouver, Singapore, San Francisco, Shanghai, among other major cities. Ticket pricing is dynamic and starts at $24 for children and $34 for adults.
Courtesy of Space Explorers: The Infinite
Photo by Melissa Taylor
I brought my family to check it out. This is what we learned:
- Bring patience. On a Saturday afternoon, the line to enter the parking lot reached the street. After paying ($14), we walked confidently toward the usual exhibition space at Pullman, detouring around the Golden Girls Café and accidentally joining the line for Serial Killers. It turns out Space is in a smaller building to the right. No problem. Despite timed tickets, we had to wait 30 minutes to enter.
- It feels a bit like Disney. The first room is dark with spaceship-style lighting and a voiceover to prepare you for the mission. There’s a bench in the middle. Use it, as you’ll be standing for a while next. When the doors reopen, you wait (briefly) for a headset to drop in through a tube. It’s a cool concept, but the reality is you can see staff placing it from the other side. The headsets are adjustable but heavy, and I felt like a bobblehead.
- It’s more of an adult activity. Ages 8 and up are welcome, but my kids spent more time hanging on me than listening to the astronauts. (If you’ve done any VR experiences, such as those at the Illuminarium off the Beltline, the setup is similar. You can distinguish in your group from strangers based on colored dots. It’s not that hard.) You walk around, exploring the ISS, embarking on a spacewalk, and looking out into the universe. Along the way, you can touch floating orbs to watch brief videos from real-life astronauts.
- I wanted more customization. The experience is divided into four parts: Adapting to the environment, exploration, cooperation with international partners, and future expansion. There are more orbs/videos than you can get it during the allotted time, and they aren’t labeled, so there’s no way to avoid repetition. At the end, you’re guided to a seat, where you join your fellow space travelers in a final journey. I’d like more guidance so I could choose my learnings according to my interests. For example, I’d love to see where astronauts sleep and what they eat (besides ice cream, of course). Meanwhile, my husband was more interested in their research projects.
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Overall, we thought the experience was cool, but not a must-do. I didn’t feel claustrophobic, as was my initial fear. I have a better sense of what the ISS looks like than I did before; however, I certainly wasn’t changed by the experience. My kids had mixed reactions. They said they liked it, then changed their minds, then never brought it again. If you’re looking for something different to do or are a major space fanatic, I say go for it. Otherwise, you shouldn’t worry about FOMO.
An attendee journeys through space via virtual reality Courtesy of Space Explorers: The Infinite
