Waiting in line at the Kravis Center to enjoy “Space Explorers: The Infinite,” I felt like a kid queuing up for a ride at the Magic Kingdom or Universal Studios.
A production of Felix & Paul Studios, “Space Explorers: The Infinite” is an immersive, 360-degree, multidimensional re-creation of the International Space Station (ISS). It is being billed as the world’s largest virtual reality experience, and I have no reason to doubt that boast; I’ve experienced several VR productions, but none contained the depth of visual information or the sheer length of this nearly hour-long journey to near Earth orbit. “The Infinite” opened at Kravis in June, and I finally made time for it last week; below are a few of my observations from memory, as note-taking during the hands-free experience was impossible and, in any event, a waste of precious time in space.
Unless you arrive at the Kravis 15 to 30 minutes early of your scheduled start time, you’ll probably have to wait at least a little bit behind fellow-attendees, your anticipation building. As with many theme-park attractions, ticketholders progressed in the wraparound line in chunks, as staff admitted groups of 10 at a time to await their instructions and, eventually, their virtual reality headsets. In the queue room, flat-screen TVs against the wall ran high-definition images of the ISS, revealing how the VR images were captured. Illuminated banners along the route displayed headshots and biographies of the NASA astronauts whose input and likenesses would be integrated into the simulation’s content.
After a basic tutorial on how to use the VR technology and other dos and don’ts, we were escorted first into a darkened room that simulated a space shuttle lift-off. Then, in the following cavernous space, we received our much-desired headsets. We are sometimes reminded that, as humans, we’re all made of stardust, and that’s exactly what our avatars resemble under the heavy-duty goggles—an collection of twinkling, humanoid stars. For the next 30 minutes, we would have free reign to wander wherever we wanted among the confines of the replica ISS, with the potential to witness some 60 different encounters onboard.
If that sounds like so much FOMO, it is—participants can only expect to experience 10 or 12 of these brief peeks into life on the ISS each time, and are encouraged to return for a second or third time to take their travels in a different direction. The organizers made the selection process easy: Each green or orange sphere that appears in your viewfinder is a different sketch, and to enter it, you simply reach out and touch it with your starry avatar hand.
My first experience thrust me right into the cosmos itself: outside the ISS, looking at the giant structure itself, and then down on the vastness of Earth, essentially suspended in space like Sandra Bullock. As a person who is weak of knee, this was an awesome but intense starting point, and a long minute until I found myself back on board.
Most of the sketches involve real-life astronauts floating in Zero-G among the metal and panels and wires and screens of their interstellar outpost. Sometimes they address you directly; other times you’re an observer watching their daily routines as their voices narrate the action. I won’t be too specific about this part of the show, as you may see only some or none of these clips. Suffice it to say that I watched as NASA astronauts inventoried their gear, got haircuts, drank from their liquid rations, reflected on the inextricable sense of community they feel among their fellow travelers, and tossed around a football and a partially eaten apple.
Even writing this only a day later, I don’t remember everything I experienced—it went by so quickly, and as soon as one segment ended, it was onto the next one to maximize my time on the station. The VR portion of “Space Explorers” ends with everyone sitting down in assigned chairs and witnessing a spacewalk. Finally, we watched a video, projected across six screens, of the uncrewed lunar flight test of the Artemis 1 rocket before exiting through the gift shop.
In a sense, attempting to convey in words my time in “Space Explorers” is an act of folly. The point of experiential art is that it needs to be experienced to be appreciated. Whether it’s your first or 1,000th time wearing VR technology, this is a must-see exhibition, one that offers the experiencer true agency in making his or way through it. At a time when “immersive” has become an overused buzzword, it’s nice to find an attraction that actually fits the definition.
“Space Explorers: The Infinite” runs through Sept. 2 at Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets run $25 to $50. Call 561/832-7469 or visit kravis.org.
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