Oculus has teamed up with Oscar Award-winning visual effects specialists Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning to create a virtual reality film on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Shooting on the shuttle at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the interiors of the Endeavour's flight deck and Spacehab module were filmed by a team headed up by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey.

The VR shoot also featured NASA Astronauts Dan Bursch, Drew Feustel, Michael Finke, Kenneth Ham, Kay Hire, Sandra Magnus and Steven Swanson, who simulated procedures that would have taken place if Endeavour was in orbit. The astronauts were also filmed using 4K 2D cameras as they talked about their time in space.

The unique footage – shot with two OZO 3D VR cameras – will be used as a teaching tool, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with an experience tailored for VR headsets used at home and in classrooms. The footage will also become part of the exhibits for the yet-to-be-built US$250m (€224m, £170.6m) Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center – a facility slated to open in 2018 which will house Endeavour, the ET-94 fuel tank and rocket boosters. The filmed interviews will also be used in the California Science Center for future exhibitions.

Grossmann and Henning, who have been recognised for their work on the Academy Award-winning Hugo, are co-founders of experiential design company Magnopus. Other members of the team involved in the shoot included Melissa Eccles, VR experience producer for Game of Thrones, and David Knight, a trustee of the science centre and founder of tech startup Terbine.