Infinitely Cool Virtual-Reality Experience Blasts Off at Sawyer Yards

Infinitely Cool Virtual-Reality Experience Blasts Off at Sawyer Yards

Inside 'Space Explorers: The Infinite'

THE OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD virtual-reality experience based on the International Space Station, which originally touched down in Houston in 2021, returns this month for a limited engagement in Sawyer Yards.


Originally known as The Infinite, the updated iteration is called Space Explorers: The Infinite, and it once again takes guests on a multi-sensory journey through a life-size replica of the ISS. Visitors will interact with various art, soundscapes, lighting design and scents.


The project is an extension of the Emmy-winning series Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, a multiplatform production filmed by and documenting the lives of astronauts aboard the International Space Station over the course of three years; the updated VR experience now includes footage of the Artemis I launch.

“We are proud to say that, since 2021, we’ve welcomed more than 400,000 people to space with Space Explorers: The Infinite,” said Félix Lajeunesse, the project's creative director and the co-founder of Felix & Paul Studios, which produces the event. “As the birthplace of NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center and a city with the cosmos as an inherent part of its DNA, Houston was the obvious choice for the American premiere of this one-of-a-kind experience, making it the perfect location for a second visit. We are thrilled to offer repeat visitors, and those who missed it the first time, a chance to virtually explore the International Space Station and experience the daily lives of astronauts in outer space.”

The experience takes place Thursdays through Sundays through the end of June; tickets are on sale now. Early bird pricing is available for visits between May 3-12.

Art + Entertainment

Sarah Sudhoff (photo by Katy Anderson)

SINCE THE 1970s, Houston’s cultural scene has only grown richer and more diverse thanks to the DIY spirit of its visual artists. As an alternative to the city’s major museums (which are awesome) and commercial galleries (again, awesome), they show their work and the work of their peers in ad-hoc, cooperative, artist-run spaces — spaces that range from the traditional white cube interiors, to private bungalows, to repurposed shipping containers.

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

Matthew Dirst (photo by Jacob Power)

FOR FANS OF early music — an often scholarly lot who aren’t afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves — bad-boy Baroque-era painter Caravaggio certainly nailed something in his dramatic 1595 painting, “The Musicians.” (Simon Schama talks about this in his TV series The Power of Art.) One look at his masterpiece, and you feel as if you’ve stumbled upon and surprised a roomful of dewy-eyed musicians, their youthful faces swollen with melancholy, with the lutist looking like he’s about ready to burst into tears before he’s even tuned his instrument. So no, you certainly don’t need a Ph.D. to enjoy and be moved by the music of Handel, G.P. Telemann, or J.S. Bach, but a little bit of scholarship never hurt anyone. Knowing the history of this music may even deepen your appreciation of it.

Keep Reading Show less