Virtual Reality Kickstarter Turns You into an Astronaut by Putting a Camera in Space

First Posted: Aug 11, 2015 09:54 AM EDT

Have you ever wanted to see what Earth looks like from space? You, too, can be an astronaut--with the power of virtual reality. A new Kickstarter campaign is bringing space to your living room with the help of a 3D 360-degree camera on the International Space Station.

In this case, SpaceVR wants to bring space exploration within reach of everyone. They plan to send a camera to the ISS to collect footage that then anyone can experience using virtual reality headsets.

Virtual reality has made strides in recent years with the introduction of the Occulus headset and the Samsung Gear VR. These headsets allow people to step into a completely different world. While game developers have largely been interested in this type of technology, it can also be utilized in other fields. For example, a headset can overlay 3D images on the environment around a person. This means that you could potentially have someone use a headset to perform a surgery in remote locations, instructed by someone from far away. NASA astronauts are also testing out Microsoft's HoloLens, which similarly overlays images on objects and allows scientists on the ground to give instructions to astronauts.

In this latest push in Virtual Reality, though, it's more of an experience for the user. If the project is funded, users may be able to experience space just like the astronauts currently living and working on the ISS.

With that said, the ISS is just the first step for SpaceVR. They also want to live-stream content to VR headsets, showing viewers what's happening in real-time. In addition, they want to send a VR camera to the moon in 2017 and land a VR camera on an asteroid in 2022.

All of these goals are a bit out of reach at the moment. But after just the first day, the project has raised more than $10,000-and there are still 28 days to go.

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TagsVirtual Reality, virtual worlds, space, international space station, ISS, Kickstarter