Experience the majesty of space with universe-first 360-degree spacewalk video
Courtesy of the crew of the International Space Station
For the first time ever, a 360-degree video has been created of a spacewalk on the International Space Station (ISS), allowing you to see Earth in all of its glory.
Looking down at Earth from space is an experience that is often described by astronauts as being phenomenal, and both exhilarating and humbling in equal measure. Now you can experience a part of that from the comfort of your own home thanks to the crew of the ISS.
The video, First time in the Universe: Spacewalk in 360, was created by Russian space agency Roscosmos in collaboration with Russian news station RT.
Get your VR headset out, and enjoy the video below:
The true value of VR
The video documents a mission in which two cosmonauts, Sergey Ryazansky and Fyodor Yurchikhin launch smaller satellites into orbit, which sounds a lot more graceful than it looks. The moment that the satellite is lobbed towards the Earth creates an incredible awareness of our own insignificance as the tiny object plummets towards the globe, where it will fall into an orbit.
During the video, there is helpful text that appears on screen, giving information about who the cosmonauts are and what they are doing. To be honest though, we had to watch the video a couple of times before we really paid the ISS crew much attention as the draw of looking at our own planet as it spins underneath is pretty incredible.
It's at times like this that the true value of 360-degree video and VR becomes obvious.
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Right at the end, the video speeds up, and you can see the Earth as it truly is, one unified shifting geological system, floating in the endless void of space.
We'll be right back, we're just going to watch it again.
- Want more space news? Check out: This self-cleaning textile could be the future of space-wear
Via Engadget
Andrew London is a writer at Velocity Partners. Prior to Velocity Partners, he was a staff writer at Future plc.