How will astronauts use virtual reality in spaceflight? NASA came to the design team at Exhibitry to find out. Guided by our human interface experience, decades of technology work, and an unapologetic fixation with Stanley Kubrick, the results will follow humans into deep space.
Exhibitry designed and built next-generation user interfaces rigorous enough for real space-flight operations, while keeping the experience fun and legible for the general public. Our futurist designers and VR specialists researched the demands of deep-space operations to build intuitive interfaces and realistic simulations across a range of mission tasks.
The simulations spanned external robotic operations and spacecraft navigation, giving the NASA team a platform to evaluate the technology and gather astronaut feedback throughout development.
Drawing on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, we built a HAL-like narrated guide — the Narrated Procedure Log Display (NPLD) — to walk users through precise procedures and make complex space operations approachable for any visitor.
Why it mattered
Feedback from NASA astronauts and officials was strongly positive, demonstrating VR’s potential to improve efficiency and safety in space operations — and setting a new bar for immersive, public-facing learning.
Inside the build
