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\nUsually associated with video games, virtual reality is an immersive technology that simulates physical presence and interaction.\n<\/p>\n
\nToday astronauts use computer simulations to help prepare for life on the International Space Station, practising spacewalks and operating equipment in microgravity \u2013 all while never leaving the ground.\n<\/p>\n
\nESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is hard at work preparing for his Beyond mission. In this image, Luca is navigating through a computer-generated environment to learn the route he might take outside the Space Station on a spacewalk, helping him to take decisions and act more quickly during the actual spacewalk. The training facility is part of Virtual Reality Laboratory at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA.\n<\/p>\n
\nLuca is also getting reacquainted \u2013 Luca flew to the Space Station in 2013 \u2013 with safety procedures, robotic operations and learning about the experiments he will conduct in the orbital outpost. \n<\/p>\n
\nHe will be launched for his six-month stay aboard the International Space Station in July as part of Expedition 60\/61, alongside NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. \n<\/p>\n
\nInternational cooperation in human spaceflight does not only take place on the Space Station but begins well before, during training. Astronauts prepare not only at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center but also at Star City near Moscow, and of course at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.\n<\/p>\n