Watch the astronauts aboard the International Space Station in action as if you were at their side. See and feel the emotions they experience when they gaze out at our planet from the portholes and when they find themselves in the vastness of the vacuum of space to carry out repairs. This is what the immersive experience offers Space Explorers: INFINITYwhich is presented at the Old Port of Montreal by INFINITY Experiences, a joint venture formed by Studio Phi and Felix Paul Studios.
All the astronauts who have stayed on the International Space Station underline the incredible chance they had to live this unique experience. Thanks to Space Explorers: INFINITYthey will no longer be the only ones, the general public now having access to them, without leaving Earth.
Realism has never been so striking, thanks to virtual reality cameras equipped with nine 4K sensors that film in 3D format over 360 degrees, developed by Felix Paul Studios of Montreal. One of these cameras was used to film various scenes of the daily life of the astronauts inside the Station. The other, which was adapted to cope with vacuum conditions, was attached to the end of the Canadian Arm, which “served as a cinematic crane to move the camera around the ISS and film the spacewalk. space of two astronauts,” said Félix Lajeunesse, co-founder of Felix Paul Studios and chief creative officer.
The cameras were equipped with a ventilation system to evacuate the heat they accumulated due to the absence of gravity. And the one used for filming outside was designed “to withstand the absence of pressure and temperature differences of up to 400°C between the times when the sun’s rays hit the camera and those when the sun was behind. Earth. It had to be covered with aluminum and teflon and the lenses had to be modified so that they were not completely dazzled by the Sun, whose rays are not filtered or absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. We had to provide a system for transmitting images from the Canadian arm to be able to see what we were filming,” he explained.
These cameras were sent to the ISS in 2018. They have been used to shoot hundreds of hours of content for nearly two and a half years, including seven days outdoors. Astronaut David Saint-Jacques is the one who received the cameras at the ISS. He learned to use them and enlisted his teammates in the project.
Present at the press presentation, the Quebec astronaut said he was deeply moved each time he saw the show. “Each time, it’s like going back there, it’s so realistic. It warms my heart to know that many people will be able to live this experience, ”he said.
“Astronauts have been true creative partners in this adventure. They adapted and enhanced scenes from the script submitted to them. It was extraordinary when we discovered the images they had filmed! added Mr. Lajeunesse.
While walking in a virtual space station, the visitor, equipped with a virtual reality headset, encounters colored bubbles that he can activate by touching them. He is then transported in a scene filmed at the exact place where he is in the station. These bubbles transform us into privileged witnesses of the arrival of new astronauts, to whom we explain emergency maneuvers, the departure of teammates who have become friends, moments of entertainment (balloon launches, meal by candlelight with little jazz music ), daily life (going to bed and getting up, physical training), current scientific experiments.
A first show called Space Explorers: The ISS Experience was presented in the summer of 2021, in Montreal, before going on tour to Houston, Seattle and San Francisco. Those who have been lucky enough to see this show will not be disappointed with the new one, Space Explorers: INFINITY, which is even more spectacular, because this time it includes footage outside the International Space Station. The immersive experience is then particularly moving, because Felix Paul Studios “reproduced the images on the scale of the ISS”.
The Canadian robotic arm that you can almost touch appears endlessly long. Solar panels look like huge skyscrapers. The SSI turns out to be a white behemoth bristling with multiple growths. The views of the blue planet, the rising sun and the clouds passing under our feet are more dizzying than ever. “In order to promote the contemplative dimension, to give people the chance to see their own planet like astronauts during a spacewalk and to feel the emotions they are experiencing at that moment, the arm Canadian was stretched in its full expansion, which made it possible to see the Earth without any interference”, indicates Mr. Lajeunesse.
Other novelties compared to the previous version: a first room presents a portrait of the astronauts who appear in the sequences as well as short films describing various highlights of the production of this production. Also, following the immersive experience, the images filmed – by Felix Paul Studios – are broadcast in a traditional format of the takeoff of the rocket of the first mission of the Artemis program to the Moon.
Only downside to this breathtaking experience: the duration of approximately 40 minutes of the immersion session does not allow you to dive into the universe of each of the 70 bubbles that are offered. Time is running out. “It is indeed impossible to see everything. You have to come back several times, ”answers Myriam Achard, from the Phi Center.