A screenshot showing planet Earth in its full beauty from the ISS.

Immersive Footage Reveals Astronaut’s Experience

National Geographic released the world’s first 3D, 360° VR footage from the International Space Station on YouTube this month as part of the company’s One Strange Rock series.

Filmed using Humaneyes‘ Vuze VR camera, the film features breathtaking, fully encompassing footage from both inside the ISS and outside of the space station, showing daily life in the spacecraft’s cramped interior as well as spectacular views of Earth from vantage points in space.

Astronauts Chris Hadfield, Mae Jemison, Mike Massimino and Nicole Stott narrate the film, produced by Black Dot Films VR, which creates National Geographic’s VR content.

While the film is best viewed on a VR headset, it can be watched in 2D on desktop and mobile devices, and viewers are still able to “look” around the entire area of the footage.

National Geographic says the video lets users “take in an impossibly stunning view of our home that just might change how you think about Earth,” mirroring the sentiments of one of the astronauts narrating the film who likens his experience seeing the Earth from the ISS to “the view from heaven,” something that “human eyes are not supposed to see.”

Humaneyes, however, seems well suited to capture the view. With the VR company’s (perhaps self-fulfilling) prediction earlier this year that cameras such as the Vuze would help to popularize VR, National Geographic’s film is an impressive first for the technology. According to Humaneyes CEO Shahar Bin-Nun:

“We were thrilled when the Vuze VR Camera passed the test to go to space. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase the genuinely immersive experiences the camera creates, allowing viewers to feel as if they were on the ISS themselves.”