You can now go on a virtual spaceflight experience with astronaut Tim Peake

British astronaut Tim Peake is going to guide you through a high-speed journey back to the Earth as an immersive virtual reality experience at the Science Museum in London. The VR experience has been created by Alchemy VR for the Science Museum Group.

Titled Space Descent VR, it’s going to put viewers inside the descent module of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with the UK’s first European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake. Viewers will experience a first-person ride that has only been experienced by a small number of professional astronauts before.

In order to ensure that the VR experience felt as close to the real deal as possible, the team consulted leading experts including Major Peake. To bring it all together, it employed the rendering power of 100 computers for a full month. The completed virtual reality experience is then delivered to the Museum’s visitors using Samsung Gear VR headsets.

“It really is breath-taking – and that comes from someone who has spent an awful lot of time using VR systems while training for my first mission,” said Tim Peake.

Space Descent VR will open at the Science Museum on March 24. More information and tickets are available from the Museum’s website.