With the news officially out, we are happy to confirm that National Geographic and Orbital ATK have indeed launched a Vuze VR camera into space. The camera was launched from earth on Sunday, aboard the Cygnus spacecraft, headed for the International Space Station (ISS). For the people on the ground at the launchpad and for the thousands watching the launch live online, this was just another (albeit exciting!) launch. For the Humaneyes team this was super thrilling, exciting and scary at the same time, as we watched our “baby” take off into space on board a jet fuel laden rocket.
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Deep Space VR for posterity
While the Vuze VR camera is not really going into deep space (the ISS is actually in low earth orbit, circling the earth at an altitude of 408 km), it will be used by Expedition 53 astronaut Paolo Nespoli (@astro_paolo) of the European Space Agency, to capture VR footage for a new National Geographic series called “one strange rock”. Nespoli will use the Vuze camera to create VR experiences of life on board the space station, allowing everyone here on earth to join in the action and experience what it’s like to be in space, through cinematic 360 VR.
Jim Malcolm, General Manager North America of Humaneyes, sums it up: “Nothing like getting geeked out about a camera in space; I still remember seeing the first Hasselblad film cameras in a museum after their trip to the moon. I look forward to seeing the Vuze VR Camera in a museum too.”
Source: Blog Vuze Camera