From Moon to Mars to Houston: An Interactive Astronaut Journey
This March, we had the honor of launching a unique STEM focused experience for the Moon 2 Mars Festival at Space Center Houston—a festival celebrating the future of space exploration, innovation, and the brilliant minds behind it. Our team was invited to create an interactive digital astronaut experience that would both educate and entertain young visitors. And we did it in record time: just three weeks from kickoff to installation. (No pressure, right?)
The Mission Brief
The goal? Build a fun, immersive astronaut experience—teaching STEM and space content to families and curious young minds. At the heart of it all was our 3D-animated astronaut, standing on the moon, ready to chat with kids about life in space.
Touch a button, and the astronaut responds to pre-recorded questions with engaging, motion-captured animations and spatial sound effects—like tapping on the glass to get your attention (yes, we went full fourth wall). We even threw in ambient lunar landscape visuals and a few rover/lander models in the background to really sell the space vibe.
Behind the Scenes: How It Came Together
We rigged and animated our astronaut using motion capture, with one of our developers suiting up to act out the gestures in sync with the voiceover scripts. This approach gave our lunar explorer a remarkably human feel—his movements naturally matched his speech, making the experience even more lifelike.
Built entirely in Unity, the final product was installed on a touchscreen computer, loaded onto a rolling platform, and transported down to Houston for setup.
Start to finish? February 24th to March 12th. Talk about a rapid launch window!
Houston, We Have Lift Off!
Once installed at the festival booth, our interactive astronaut became the centerpiece of the display. The booth also featured Leidos in collaboration with Lunar Outpost, showcasing their Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV)—a futuristic rover designed for moon missions. A looping overview video rounded out the space-forward exhibit.
The installation ran from March 14th through the 18th, during which time the festival welcomed high-profile guests, including members of Congress and NASA leadership. They toured the exhibits before public hours began, giving our project some truly out-of-this-world exposure.
What’s Next? A Permanent Lunar Legacy
After the festival, the astronaut won’t return to Earth. Instead, the installation will be moved to Space Center Houston’s permanent Food Lab exhibit, where it's being reimagined to align with STEM and educational content about nutrition in space for future missions.
We’re now working on new content updates for this phase—tailoring the astronaut’s conversations to align with the exhibit’s scientific goals while keeping the interactivity and charm that made it a festival hit.
Why It Mattered
This project was a blast (pun fully intended). It merged storytelling, interactivity, and rapid production timelines into a final piece that not only engaged hundreds of kids, but also left a lasting impression on key decision-makers in the space community. From concept to completion in just three weeks, the Moon 2 Mars astronaut experience is a proud example of our team’s creativity, agility, and commitment to creating experiences that inspire.
Let’s Create Something Wild Together!
Ready to elevate your next project? Our team is here to bring your vision to life!