I never saw their ads on my social media feeds presumably because I've aged out of their demographic target. I only found out about this event on the local news when they did a feature on it and made it look like the coolest thing since sliced bread. You probably didn't know sliced bread was cool, did you? Anyway I was sold, so I got tickets for Jamie W. and me. At first I thought $55 was rather steep, but what do I know about virtual reality? Except that Zuck plowed billions into it with Meta and just laid off 11,000 employees because the public wasn't ready for it. I sure wasn't ready, but this experience made me think I could be ready for an hour's worth of it before I go into sensory overload. As newly designated space explorers, Jamie and I were handed our bulky VR headsets. I have to admit I was amused at the sight of headset-wearing people in a huge warehouse space doing all sorts of random movements. Once our headsets got turned out, however, we were completely immersed into a walkable 3-D model of the International Space Station. It didn't matter if we were walking inside or outside of the station, we were defying gravity, baby. There were lots of floating blue orbs which you bat away in order to see videos of the actual station with astronauts talking to us face-to-face. We also experienced a spacewalk and could see Earth below our feet. I felt like Sandra Bullock in "Gravity" before the debris hit... ...and before George Clooney unplugged himself out of fear of spending eternity with a woman his own age. After allowing us to sit down to absorb the universe around us (and to let the next group come in), we took off our headsets and headed into a Star Trek-like room where Ryoji Ikeda's "The Universe Within the Universe" was displayed in all its kinetic glory. Ikeda's artistic vision was mesmerizing as it spanned from the microscopic to the macroscopic aspects of the cosmos (video: https://bit.ly/3ts6qMq). As we exited, I have to admit I felt a bit of motion sickness, and it wasn't virtual. Regardless, I was so awestruck that I bypassed the gift shop where I noticed they were selling actual View-Masters. This was a pretty awesome experience. RELATED - Interested in attending a special event? Here's a collection of events I've attended and reviewed: https://bit.ly/3BiD4l2 read more

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This was a really unique experience! If you're looking for a state of the art VR experience combined with the wonders of space and some self reflection on humanity (its a lot, I know)....then look no further. Its an hour long experience where you get to tour the International Space station (real video footages). Its immersive so you get to walk around a large area. Everyone turns into star beings so you don't run into each other. There's also some really cool digital art installations at the end too (warning: might trigger seizures). My only feedback is that I wished it was longer! So many parts to explore that I didn't get the chance to. If thats not possible, then having a more curated video selection where we get the greatest hits and learn more about the ISS (how they eat, clean, sleep etc). Afterwards, you can explore the waterfront! Have some bbq with a view and take in the history of this area. read more

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Pricey but a fun thing to do once. An hour of using a VR headset. I found the videos a bit boring and I was always bumping into other people with blue orbs. read more

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I've tried many VR experiences over many years and this was easily the best. Not nauseating is a good start, but it's well done and fascinating. Go at a slow time, you save $10 on the tickets and avoid listening to a crowd of people read more

If you don't have a $Million for a seat on Jeff Bezo's space flight, then this is the next best thing. For less than $40 (with holiday 20% off coupon), you get to experience what it is like at the ISS (International Space Station). The VR quality is pretty good. I have a VR system at home but I was impressed with the quality of the video and the immersive experience. You get about 35 minutes with the ISS, then about 15 minutes more viewing a few additional immersive art exhibits. I advise to go on a less busy time like a weekday, so there's less waiting time, and more room for you to roam around and more staff to help you if technical issues come up. I went midweek and when I arrived, there was no line and I was scanned in right away. Once you start the VR, do not adjust your headset as that will cause the system to re-initialize. This happened to me and I lost valuable time. As you moved around the space station, you will see glowing orbs, and if you touch them, new content will open up, like being in a lab with the astronauts as they conduct their experiments. It is like they are right in front of you and you are listening to their conversation. There are probably over 40 orbs and you are not going to be able to view them all, so my advise is you don't have to view the entire clip. You should watch part of each clip and get a feel and then move on to next orb. Otherwise at the end of 35 minutes you will find yourself only going through less than 10 orbs. Make sure you get the chance to venture outside the station to experience space walk. To me that was the best part as it was amazing to see the brilliant Earth rotating in front of you as you observe the astronauts doing the spacewalk. You really feel the enormity of space. As there are a lot of content but the experience inside the ISS is just 35 minutes, I feel that you can come back again and each experience will be different. read more

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Overall it was great. I love that it's both technology and educational and good for a variety of people and ages. The androgynous avatars with gold or blue orbs and transparent hands was super cool. As for the areas for improvement, it was very crowded and hearing the other people was distracting. The tech was also heavy and challenging as was the walking with it on with confidence. Also, I would have like that they categorize clips by color or symbol so that we knew what it was about before clicking on it: life on board, vistas, etc. In a nutshell: The two teens I brought were underwhelmed although my mom and I enjoyed it. read more

Didn't want to regret not checking this experience out, so I took advantage of a coupon code I had and went on a weekday for a slightly better price. Overhyped in my opinion, but for someone who's never tried VR before, this might be good for you. Checking in was easy. You don't need the app; you can just show them the QR code you're emailed. You get a safety blurb from a staff member at the beginning which was good. Otherwise I don't think I would've caught all the warnings in the VR video and it was good to have a live employee answer any questions you might have. She was clear and definitely hyped me up, but I was pretty let down when she said proceed up the ramp to the "light show" which ended up just being an enclosed waiting room with some lights along the perimeter already flashing. I think seeing everyone zombie-ing around in the giant grey room while we were getting our headsets set up ruined the experience a bit. I would prefer to not know what the venue is like, but it was good in the sense that it let me know there are other live people walking around with staff monitoring so I had to be careful not to bump into anyone. Headset failed a few times which took away from the experience and my left eye view was blurry I panicked a few times thinking it was my own eyesight. The overall space explorers experience was not what I anticipated based on the description. I thought I could freely walk around the ISS (in VR of course) but it was just a hollow outline of it and you have to go to different 'checkpoints' to view mini videos. Honestly it didn't feel that different than all the movies and videos I've watched about space in school growing up. Overall, I think this experience would be great for school-age kids, but probably not a first choice for others. read more

Terrible resolution in the VR headset. A good idea, but handicapped by the limitations of the headset.

The kids had a blast, and the staff was amazing. The big problem, however, was the repeated equipment failures. I went through three sets of goggles over the course of the 30 minute VR experience, and my kid had to have hers reset multiple times to get it to work. The equipment problems were also likely the cause of the huge delays actually getting into the exhibit. The line takes forever. Our assigned time was 4:30 PM, but it was another hour waiting (and waiting, and waiting) before the VR portion started. That said, when it was working, the VR videos from outside the ISS made you feel like you were standing on the station watching the earth pass by below. They were incredible. I kept wanting to get my came out to take a picture, the experience felt so real. If you've never experienced VR before, then it's probably a fun gimmick you might enjoy. Just make sure you set aside 2-3 hours total for it because, as I said, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting and a tiny fraction in the VR experience. read more

Having never used virtual goggles before, it was a tad bit awkward at first. Once I got used to them it made it easier to enjoy the show. It was awe inspiring! You literally feel like your on the space craft and intertwined with the realistic program. I highly recommend going and wear comfortable shoes. read more

Space Explorers: The Infinite - Entrance to Space Explorers 'The Infinite' - Virtual Reality Centers Near Me - Richmond, California

Arrived promptly at 11:10 for my reservation at 11:15. An hour later I'm still in line. Such gross disrespect to people's time is completely unacceptable. I like VR experiences but I would never recommend this company or visit another one of their experiences. read more

Space Explorers: The Infinite - Line still waiting.... It has been an hour. - Virtual Reality Centers Near Me - Richmond, California

The infinite was pretty cool and featured a vast exploration. The wait was about 5 minutes as we came midday on a Thursday. The ambience of sounds mixed with the interesting interactive sights made this VR show one of a kind. read more

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I will go back when I get a chance. This is an incredibly well-engineered setup. Once you have your headset on and enter the main room, each of the 360-vr camera locations are spread out and marked with a glowing globe, that you touch to turn on that experience. Many of these feature close quarters with the astronauts as they interact. Spectacular. Awesome. Who knows how many... I have read 600, and 40, and 75. I saw 12. Unfortunately, the people who manage and serve this experience are tired and bored. I could only watch with one eye at a time bc the individual lenses inside the set were set for the narrow setting- probably a kid who used it previously- and no one told us there was an adjustment- by removing the headset/ pushing apart the lenses to another notch/ putting headset back on. AFTER my "tour" was finished I asked and found out that important info. So I'll return another day for the two-eyed experience. read more

While it is a good idea, the actual experience is confusing. You walk around, directionless, opening globes with no information about where you are or what you are witnessing. You're not sure you've seen all or even a representative number of the available globe rooms when the end of the tour door opens to have you find a seat for the final view. Disappointed that the actual experience was way less than I had imagined! Prices for souvenirs in the gift shop on the way out are appropriately astronomical: $3 for as post card, $12 for a magnet. Sales person was orbiting solo without any takers! read more

I thought it would make a decent iMax film -disappointing as a walk through as you cannot see all the films in any one chapter. It was overpriced and over-hyped. read more

Let me begin by saying this event was interesting and enjoyable. It is good to experience it. But...it could be so much better and the company who produces this has had ample time to fix what needs to be fixed. When I read reviews from last year AFTER I attended it this year, I realized many of the complaints were the same. My neighbor and I didn't have headsets that stopped working but you need more instruction on adjusting them before you put them on. I think I should have separated my eye pieces and my headpiece fogged up around the upper eye part. I had to hold it up from the back the whole time. I don't like the walking around. Other participants are in your way. They blocked several orbs that I could not activate because they were standing still in front of me for the few seconds they needed to watch the video the orb projects. The orbs you are able to activate are amazing and interesting. My neighbor suggested a moving walkway so you are not wandering around each other. The walking is definitely not a good way to view this. The avatar of your fellow observers is a distraction and keeps you from seeing all you should see. Sitting in the chair to watch the space walk at the end enables you to experience that without interruption and you get the full effect of actually being there! It made many of us to agree this might be far better as an IMax event. read more

It was an amazing experience. Highly recommend it. The staff were friendly and ready to help. The entire VR experience was mind blowing and highly recommend everyone to go see it. read more

IT WAS AMAZING 20,000/10 The people were so nice! And the VR was amazing! It was short and a long wait... read more

Don't read this if you want to try this experience and you don't have high expectations for VR... I should give this experience 1 star, but I'm trying to be nice here! This "spacewalk" is a joke at least compared to what is being promoted/sold and what my wife and I expected. CONS: The VR experience is confusing, unsatisfying, slow, disorienting, and has really bad resolution. The environment you are in is not pleasant, the experiences jam-packed with directions and rules to follow, i.e., bossy. This is in NO WAY as enjoyable as I expected. The list cost was $49.95, though somehow, I was presented thankfully with a $39.95 cost at checkout. The value in my book was $15 max. My wife and I are both thoroughly unsatisfied with this experience. I never would have bought it if I knew what it was like. The claim was "cinematic VR"....but, my TV is 4K, and most movies in theaters are 1080p and the visuals in this experience were many, many levels lower than this. It is in no way cinematic. The visuals are grainy, fuzzy, out of focus. In this experience, the VR (which is walking around to touch gold globes to initiate the next short video) is Frankensteined together in a jarring way with the video clips. The clips are slow to load, causing confusion and disorientation. The overall experience is neither smooth or fun. Both my wife and I had a headache for the rest of the day after this experience. The VR headset (modified Oculus Quest 2) was hot, uncomfortable, and worst of all, heavy. In the sitting down part of it at the end, nothing really happened. If this is state of the art VR, then VR is probably at least 20 years away from being stunningly cool, breathtaking or magical. It is clear that our expectations based on the promo materials were WAY too high. PROS: I'm grasping at straws but here goes...There were (very) brief moments of awe seeing the earth from space. If it had been like that and better for the whole 40 minutes, it would have been awesome. Seeing the complexity of the inside of the space station was briefly cool. The lady who took the tickets was very nice, and the guy who prepped you outside of the experience was professional. The video art exhibition by Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda (a separate thing that is included free) was only 5 minutes long yet was far cooler than the space exploration VR. (Too bad the warnings about the very intense, fast and bright flashing lights weren't clear and prominent enough and you were required to walk through these flashing lights to get to the space walk. I liked it, but it was too much for my wife who quickly passed through shielding her eyes. It could have easily caused a seizure for some light-sensitives.) Navigating around with the headset on was passable. There are so many people in there at once that you have to keep avoiding them, this part was "okay." It was a nice day outside. Overall: 2/10 read more

Super cool VR immersive experience of what it feels like in space. The technology and stories transported us in such a vivid, compelling way. I traveled outside the space station to look down upon the Earth and reflect upon what it means to be human in this vast world. When I was inside the space station, it was cool to observe the real-world astronauts and feel as if I was traveling alongside them. Worth checking out and then enjoying the beautiful Richmond waterfront and view of SF. read more

An interesting and at times amazing VR experience plagued by technological shortcomings and failings. When it worked, like during the 360 degree videos of the ISS when you feel like you're actually standing onboard, it's awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, there were frequent graphical glitches such as walls not displaying properly and other avatars appearing way above or below you. Worse, my son's headset shut off after a few minutes and despite raising his arm and waiting per the instructions no one came to help so we had to remove our headsets and walk back to the entrance for assistance. My headset then overheated (!) and shut down right at the start of the final sit down portion. It took so long to get help that I missed the rest of the VR experience. Considering the high cost and the fact that 2/3 of our party had major hardware failures during the short experience, I cannot recommend paying for this. This would be a promising proof of concept or beta test, but in its current state it's not ready. read more

If you like space, this will be an experience for you. I don't have much VR experience. This was the best one I had. My set was a bit fuzzy but OK. To have gotten a sense of the size of the ISS, the many parts it's built with, to have seen it from the inside and move around in it, has been a great experience. My favorite part was the time I decided to spend outside of the ISS, seeing earth go by "under" me, much closer to the ISS than I thought. Definitely an enriching and worthwhile experience for me. Would recommend to go at a time with fewer people. I went on a Thr evening when initially there were only like 5 people there, which was great. In the closing hour (my time slot) a total of ~ 25 people came and it started to feel more "crowded". I began to be distracted by people talking and moving close to me and had a harder time focusing on the videos and voices in the VR show. But in total I can definitely recommend it for less than $40. (Currently 20% "Spring break" coupon and $10 cheaper on weekdays) read more

What a disappointment. During the 45 minutes of the walking-around part, my headset required attention from the staff 3 times and my wife's twice, causing us each to miss part of the experience. My wife estimates that I missed half of it. Not recommended. read more