A new immersive experience in Mississauga will let you see space in a completely different way.
Enter Space Explorers: The Infinite, an interactive documentary that lets you explore the International Space Station (ISS) through VR in a more than 12,500 sq. ft facility. The experience was developed by immersive entertainment companies Felix & Paul (which is actually based in Montreal) and Studio PHI in close collaboration with NASA.
Over the course of nearly three years, the Canadian company used high-powered 360-degree cameras to capture footage of astronauts aboard the ISS in what is described as the largest production ever filmed in space. Since then, the experience has been drawing some 500,000 visitors around the world, and now, it’s made its Ontario debut at GYGO at Square One. (Fellow GTA kids will recognize this location as where the Playdium used to be.)
I got to check out Space Explorers last week, and I came away pretty impressed by the whole 45-minute experience. Right off the bat, I appreciated how the first area of the experience puts a human face to these brave astronauts through displays featuring their images and bios. Space Explorers, in particular, follows 12 astronauts, and I was pleased to see that one of them was Saint-Lambert, Quebec’s David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Alongside these graphics, you’ll see B-roll footage of the astronauts, as well as the specialized camera that Felix & Paul used in the production.
From there, a very friendly and energetic employee walks you through the usual housekeeping rules before you enter a waiting room with atmospheric music and starry lighting to simulate heading up into space. It’s gimmicky, to be sure, but it’s easy to see how kids will get a kick out of it. The next area is the main event, and after a brief Meta Quest setup process, you’re off to the races.
This means you’re free to walk around in real life in a large room, which will have your avatar navigating the ISS accordingly. You’ll also see colour-coded avatars to denote other guests and employees alongside red lines to denote the experience’s boundaries, all of which help you avoid collisions. (Just keep in mind that several people will likely still bump into you, as was the case with me.)
Admittedly, I found this part the least interesting, as the almost wireframe virtual design of the ISS was pretty rudimentary. But to be fair, this is almost certainly me speaking from the privileged perspective of having used VR many times, so less experienced general audiences will surely not mind. And if nothing else, you’re free to walk outside the ISS into space itself, which creates this wonderfully surreal feeling of floating above the Earth with the sun on your back.
But the highlight of the experience, naturally, is the real footage that Felix & Paul captured. To trigger these 360-degree videos, you can approach glowing orbs in the ISS and gesture at them with your hands. From there, the short clips will play, and it’s here where Space Explorers is at its most fascinating. It makes you feel like a little fly on the wall as these astronauts go about their day, allowing you to better appreciate the work they do.
In some clips, they talk about the visceral emotions of being up in space, with one describing it as “the most raw and human I’ve ever felt.” In others, they unpack the sacrifices of leaving behind their family for so long, both in their training and eventual ISS stays. But my favourite clips were when they would discuss the touching camaraderie they form with one another, like one of them playfully putting on a 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque monkey mask to surprise the others, or two women reflecting on their groundbreaking achievements.
Image credit: Felix & Paul Studios
Best of all, the four-phase structure of the actual ISS exploration section means that there are more videos than you will have time to view. Not only does this create a more personalized experience among groups, but it also gives you more to see should you come back. The only downside to this setup, though, is that it ends with you following a virtual trail to a seat, where a handful of lengthy, relatively uneventful clips are shown to you. Given the immersion of the previous section of the experience, this was a bit of a letdown comparatively.
Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Space Explorers: The Infinite. By allowing people to get to see the ISS firsthand through VR, the experience makes the subject far more fascinating than it would have been in a traditional documentary format. Plus, it’s Canadian-made, which makes it even cooler.
Normally, tickets for kids and adults are priced at $18.32 and $28.90, respectively, but a special 20 per cent launch discount is available over the next several weeks. Presto Perks members can also save up to 25 per cent on tickets. You can purchase tickets from the official Space Explorers: The Infinite website. A similar Space Explorers experience from Felix & Paul is also available on Meta Quest 3 and 3S.
Header image credit: Felix & Paul Studios
