This 360-Degree Video Lets You Experience Traveling into Space

Blue Origin, a company owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is trying to make space travel easy for the common millionaire, offering quick trips into suborbital space for a hefty fee. But face it, you still have little to no chance of ever venturing into space -- something very few non astronauts have achieved -- which is why Seeker VR made the video below.

The virtual reality company sent a camera racing toward the stratosphere, and filmed the gradual climb. The company claims that no 360 degree video of suborbital space has ever been distributed in a VR format. In documenting the ascent 90,000 feet above the earth, we get a visceral sense of where atmosphere meets space.

click to play video

If the journey seems like a casual drift up towards the sky, don’t be fooled: The company kept tabs on the balloon's upward trajectory, noting a maximum speed of over 60 mph.

Seeker VR claims its cameras died once they floated above 90,000 feet -- after all, this is such a high altitude that you’d need a space suit to survive the cold and dwindling oxygen -- but the helium balloon floated to about 114,000 feet before bursting.

If the video proves anything, it’s that space isn’t as far away as we think. At least when we have a VR headset handy.

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Sam Blum is a Staff News Writer for Thrillist. He's going to email Jeff Bezos about a space trip right now. Follow him on Twitter @Blumnessmonster.