A new VR experience created by Danish green energy company Ørsted sends your hurtling into space, with the aim to see our home in a new light and feel more connected to the planet. The experience is available with narration from four former astronauts from the US, UK, Denmark and Germany.
The experience, titled the “Space Safari”, will premiere today at Climate Week NYC. The creators are hoping that after the experience, which lasts just under five minutes, you will feel the same “overview” effect that astronauts get after traveling into space and seeing our tiny blue planet from afar. Former US astronaut Mike Massimino, who spent over 3 weeks in space and was the first person to tweet from space, explains the effect during the experience’s narration.
“It made me realize that, despite our differences, we are all in the same boat, or spaceship … It gave me a sense of a great connection to every living thing on that tiny pale blue dot.”
“We believe that if more people experience Earth like astronauts do, it will create a greater sense of responsibility of our shared home and speed up climate action,” said Filip Engel, Vice President for Sustainability, Public Affairs & Branding at Ørsted, in a prepared statement. “In collaboration with the astronauts, we’ve created the Space Safari project to make their view of planet Earth available to everyone.”
The experience’s release is timely, given recent climate strikes conducted by students around the world last week. Despite being short in length, I found the video to be quite affecting.
All four versions of the experience, with the same script narrated by different astronauts, are already available as 360° YouTube videos online, which you will be able to watch via supported VR devices like the Oculus Go, Quest and PSVR. You can read more at Ørsted’s Space Safari website.
