China's three-day Mid-Autumn Festival ends today. Moon-gazing has long been part of the festival's traditions. In southwest Sichuan Province's city of Chengdu, visitors can experience the moon from a whole new perspective by stepping into a virtual lunar exploration journey. 

 

For centuries, the moon has captured the imagination in Chinese culture, inspiring countless poems and legends and becoming a symbol of reunion, longing and home. Now, visitors at the Sichuan Science and Technology Museum can experience the moon up close through immersive VR, stepping into a lunar world and exploring it from a first-person perspective. 

 

HE YUE, Visitor at Sichuan Science and Technology Museum "When I first landed on the moon, I felt how tiny we are. It felt like we were just a speck of dust in the universe. Yet we can travel across space, gazing at the Earth from far away. It almost feels like the Earth can see us too."

 

The experience is called "The Farside Promise," which forms part of the STAR PATH VR Series. Users move through a physical space while the headset places them inside the story, a format that has to balance dramatic storytelling with scientific credibility. 

 

JIN ZIJIE, Project Manager, Our Pale Blue Dot (Beijing) Culture & Technology Co., Ltd. "When visitors put on the VR headset, they can climb the Wenchang launch tower, enter a spacecraft, and travel to the moon. The lunar scenes are based on real exploration data and images. We also worked with aerospace experts to make sure the science behind the experience is accurate. The story is set in 2049 and is a work of science fiction, with fictional characters and plotlines imagining the future of lunar exploration."

 

Beyond the VR experience, museums like this are bringing space exploration closer to everyday visitors.

 

YANG WENJING, Visitor at Sichuan Science and Technology Museum "I might imagine more about the future. We once saw the moon as beautiful and distant. After this immersive VR experience, I picture lunar bases. China's lunar program is advancing, with crewed moon landing plans. I imagine taikonauts driving rovers across the moon."

 

And this Mid-Autumn Festival, the museum is extending that connection beyond VR, with that bring astronomy and traditional culture together. 

 

ZHANG MIN, Staff, Sichuan Science and Technology Museum "We have professional astronomical equipment, so visitors can observe the stars and the moon with guidance from our staff. They can also explore meteorites, make lunar models, and create jade-rabbit lanterns."

 

For a tradition rooted in gazing at the moon from afar, technology is now offering people a chance to imagine what it would be like to stand on its surface.

 

Edited by Zhang Yuanlin

Source: CGTN