Mission: ISS lets you use Oculus Touch controllers to interact with a virtual-reality version of the International Space Station. (Oculus Rift Illustration)

Oculus has just launched Mission: ISS, a virtual-reality simulation that takes advantage of the companysheadset and handheld controllers tolet you explore the International Space Station and even perform a virtual spacewalk.

The computer-generated environment, designed for Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch, provides yet another hint at the shape of things to come at the intersection of virtual and augmented reality with space exploration.

For years, NASA and other space agencies have been closing in on the creation of real-life, 3-D environments that folks can experience through 360-degree video and VR devices as simpleas Google Cardboard. Heres a sampling:

Mission: ISS raises the bar another notch closer to that vision. The project is the result of a collaboration with NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, plus the L.A.-based Magnopus studio. You can go through a simulated spacewalk, bring in a cargo capsule for a hookup and perform other mission-critical tasks. The package also includes several immersive videos in which astronauts tell their stories.

Oculus says its piloting a limited beta program to provide U.S. high school students with direct access to Mission: ISS. The company is also partnering with CNES, Frances space agency, to send an Oculus Rift VR system to the space station.

The Rift will be used for the first time in orbit by European astronaut Thomas Pesquet to test the effects of zero-gravity on human spatial awareness and balance using software developed by the space agencies, Oculus said today in a blog posting.

That experimentwill follow in the virtual footsteps ofProject Sidekick, which gave astronauts the chance to use Microsofts HoloLens headset to practice performing augmented-reality maintenance tasks on the space station (and fight off computer-generated space aliens).

Another company based in the Seattle area, Bellevue-based Valve, has been working on a Mars VR environment based on NASA imagery of the Red Planet.

The rest is here:

Oculus' 'Mission: ISS' takes one more step toward giant leap for virtual space station - GeekWire