On October 3, at the Russian Museum of Cosmonautics, Head of Energia Rocket and Space Corporation’s flight-test division Mark Serov presented the first ever 360-degree footage of a spacewalk, filmed in collaboration with Roscosmos State Corporation and RSC Energia.
According to a press release, the technology will be used to train International Space Station (ISS) teams and crews and also crews for future moon missions.
“Our colleagues can use 360 videos to conduct tests. It is one thing to show photos or videos shot in the traditional format, but with panoramic videos, you can take the experience to the next level of immersion. It is especially valuable for cosmonauts preparing to work in space,” said Serov during the presentation, according to the press release.
Serov continued, calling the footage they have “a drop in the ocean” and saying that they need to film more.
This presentation was made ahead of the 60th anniversary of the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik 1.
Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky called in for a video conference to talk about his experience with the filming process, according to the press release.
“I think that 360 videos are a great technology, a wonderful idea. It is exciting that we, Russians, were the first ones to test it during a spacewalk,” he said, according to the release.
Former astronaut Terry Virts tweeted that it was “one of the coolest views from ISS he’s ever seen” while former astronaut Clayton Anderson chimed in saying “very, very cool.”
One of the coolest views from the #ISS I’ve seen. #space360 https://t.co/ZGQNeyRYFE via @youtube.
— Terry Virts (@AstroTerry) November 21, 2016
Very, very cool #space360 https://t.co/FIy1s3DHZz
— Clayton C. Anderson (@Astro_Clay) November 21, 2016
Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, also posted about the video on Twitter and Facebook.
Very cool. First panoramic view of Earth can be seen from this 360-degree video shot aboard @Space_Station: https://t.co/dmp5pgAJpK
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) November 21, 2016
Watch the full video above.
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