New VR Exhibit Lets Public Step Inside the ISS Before Its 2030 De-Orbit
Felix & Paul Studios' three-year production brings real space station footage to Manhattan's Eclipso venue.
A new virtual reality exhibit in Manhattan offers civilians a rare chance to experience life aboard the International Space Station before the orbital lab is de-orbited around 2030.
Real Footage From Orbit
'Space Explorers: The ISS Experience' opened at Eclipso, located at 555 West 57th Street, using actual 3D 360-degree footage captured during six NASA expeditions. The production deployed three specialized cameras—two positioned inside the station and one mounted externally on the Canadian robotic arm (Canadarm2), controlled remotely from the ground.
The project represents a multi-year collaboration between Felix & Paul Studios and NASA astronauts. According to studio co-founder Félix Lajeunesse, production spanned approximately three years, including 1.5 to 2 years of preparation before filming began.
More Than a Rendering
Unlike typical VR attractions, the exhibit combines the space footage with physical sets in a free-roaming format. Visitors don't just watch—they move through a life-size recreation of the station's modules while viewing authentic footage captured in microgravity.
Filming in the vacuum of space required equipment that could withstand extreme conditions while capturing an anthropomorphic, human-centric perspective of daily life aboard the ISS.
A 'Time Capsule' for the ISS
With the ISS scheduled for de-orbit around 2030, digital preservation projects like this serve as archival records of what many consider humanity's greatest engineering achievement in orbit.
'Our first audience in the United States were the astronauts,' Lajeunesse said. 'Almost all of them referred to experiencing this as going back home.'
Lajeunesse also emphasized the station's broader significance: 'The International Space Station is one of the most extraordinary examples of human collaboration; human cooperation.'
The Overview Effect, Democratized
Beyond preservation, the exhibit aims to communicate what astronauts call the 'overview effect'—the profound emotional and cognitive shift that occurs when viewing Earth from space. By bringing this perspective to the general public, the project demonstrates VR's potential as more than entertainment: a tool for empathy and shared human experience.
For those who will never launch to orbit, the Manhattan exhibit offers the next closest thing to standing in the cupola, watching the planet rotate below.