Smithsonian Starstruck at the Science Museum

Starstruck is a shared virtual reality journey through space, 4.64 from 2,089 reviews on Fever on 10 November 2026. Fever produces it, as the Science Museum’s own page says, and developed it with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, whose scientists oversaw the content, with Smithsonian Enterprises overseeing the collaboration. The museum is the host: it runs on Level 1, via the Technicians Gallery, and the museum sends visitors to Fever to buy. It opened in London on 26 June 2026, and was selected in competition for Venice Immersive at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival.

Arrive 15 minutes before your time. You leave bags in free lockers, staff fit a wireless headset, and you go in as a group of up to six; further groups follow about every three minutes. Then you walk freely through the virtual space with the others in your group, and a virtual host called Astro guides you. Allow about an hour in all, 40 minutes of it in the headset.

The journey begins at the Smithsonian’s Whipple Observatory under the constellations. From there you stand on the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, detour to the Sun to see solar flares 30 times larger than the Earth and hear its vibrations, and explore an exoplanet where volcanoes erupt and diamonds glitter. Betelgeuse explodes in a supernova, you see the Pillars of Creation, and the trip ends at the edge of a supermassive black hole. Fever says the visuals draw on data from NASA, the European Space Agency, those telescopes and Smithsonian research.

It is built to include people. Wheelchair and extra-space modes are chosen during headset setup, captions and visual descriptions are available, a seated version can be arranged on site, and there are no strobe lights.

This is the one to choose if you want to walk through space with your family or friends, and not simply watch it: it held 4.64 from 2,089 reviews on Fever on 10 November 2026. It is also an easy add-on to a free day at the Science Museum, where the Space gallery covers the real hardware of human spaceflight.

Two rivals on Fever are worth a look. Our Body Worlds page covers the anatomy exhibition on Old Brompton Road, also in South Kensington, 4.72 from 1,311 reviews, from 19.80 pounds, for real human bodies in place of galaxies. Ramses and the Pharaohs' Gold at NEON, Battersea Power Station, held 4.51 from 9,994 reviews, from 19.79 pounds.

There is no cheaper direct route to compare. The Science Museum does not sell Starstruck itself: its page sends you to Fever, and tickets are sold on Fever’s site and app. The Starstruck site mentions a box office on site but recommends booking ahead. The museum’s page says tickets start at 14.40 pounds, which is lower than anything on Fever’s calendar on 10 November 2026; the lowest we could read was 15.90 pounds for a reduced ticket.