The Science Museum is opening a mind-bending journey through space this summer
Explore stars, galaxies and black holes
The Science Museum is about to become London's closest thing to a spaceport.
Opening on the 26th of June, Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience promises to take visitors on a journey through the cosmos without ever leaving South Kensington. Developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the free-roam virtual reality experience transforms decades of astronomical research into an interactive adventure that lets guests explore some of the most extraordinary corners of the universe.
Rather than simply looking at planets and stars on a screen, visitors will be able to walk through a fully immersive environment built using real astronomical data.
Over the course of the roughly 40-minute experience, guests will travel alongside some of humanity's most powerful observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, venturing deep into space to witness everything from the birth and death of stars to distant exoplanets and supermassive black holes.
The experience begins at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Whipple Observatory before launching participants into a vast 3D recreation of the universe. Along the way, visitors will drift through galaxies, race across the Milky Way, fly close to the Sun and come face-to-face with some of the most extreme phenomena known to science.
What makes Starstruck particularly interesting is the balance it strikes between education and spectacle. Fever, the company behind the project, has worked closely with scientists to ensure the experience remains grounded in real research while still delivering the kind of jaw-dropping visuals you'd expect from a blockbuster sci-fi film. It's essentially a space documentary you can walk through.
The arrival of Starstruck continues the Science Museum's recent run of ambitious immersive experiences and feels like a natural fit for a venue dedicated to making complex science accessible to wider audiences. For anyone who has ever wondered what it might feel like to stand at the edge of a black hole or gaze across thousands of galaxies, this might be the closest you'll get without a rocket.
Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience opens at the Science Museum on the 26th of June. Tickets are available through Fever from the 9th of June, but you can join the waitlist now. Entry to the museum itself requires a separate free admission booking. The experience is recommended for ages 10 and above.
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