\u201cStarstruck\u201d opened in Washington, D.C., on June 12, and has so far been enjoyed by diverse crowds \u2014 including NASA officials, Elliott said. The plan is to eventually open in 30 cities total.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit of a nervous wreck,\u201d Elliott said with a laugh, remembering when the NASA experts first donned the VR headsets. \u201cBut they were like, \u2018This is great!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStarstruck\u201d opens in Denver on Thursday, Aug. 13, with tickets on sale Thursday, June 18. They cost $21.75-$24.75 at feverup.com\/m\/659224<\/a>. The experience is designed for ages 10 and up. Groups of six people are launched into the immersive exhibition every 3 minutes or so, with a capacity of about 100 per hour, Elliott said. The program was developed with global events-producer Fever, which designs and stages \u201cVan Gogh: The Immersive Experience\u201d and other shows. It was directed in virtual reality by Elliott Mizroch<\/a>, a University of Colorado Leeds School of Business grad who also happened to visit Fiske Planetarium quite a bit while living in Boulder.<\/p>\n He minored in graphic design and computer graphics, and has been working heavily with virtual reality and experimental technology for 15 years. That makes the free-roam, interactive, 3D narrative of \u201cStarstruck\u201d both a passion and a deeply scientific venture for Mizroch.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really approachable, but there\u2019s a lot of hard science in there that\u2019s millimeter-accurate,\u201d he said from Madrid, where he has lived and worked for Fever since 2024. \u201cThe movie is really about the birth, life and death of stars, and transporting you into these amazing 2D images, transformed into immersive spaces, based on real data.\u201d<\/p>\n The show was created with top astrophysicists Randall Smith<\/a> and Laura Brenneman<\/a> of the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who have a knack for turning dense scientific information into fun facts, Mizroch added.<\/p>\n \u201cRandall told me that whether growing up watching \u2018Cosmos\u2019 or hanging out at Fiske, when you look up at space at night, it\u2019s this ethereal, heavenly place, and you might think there\u2019s a lot of stuff we don\u2019t know,\u201d Mizroch said. \u201cBut he said, \u2018No, we know a lot of real places with real addresses and real functions in the macro universe. All this stuff happening out in space has its purpose and we can explain to you exactly what that is.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStarstruck\u201d is opening in other cities with strong ties to aerospace and astronomy, Fever said, including Denver, San Antonio and Orlando, but also London and Manchester, England. (Fever also maintains its own venue here for immersive experiences.) Elliott declined to share the project\u2019s budget but said it was a significant investment for Smithsonian Enterprises and the first VR exhibition of its kind for the organization.<\/p>\n \u201cStarstruck\u201d begins its run Thursday, Aug. 13, at Fever Hub at York Street Yards, 3863 N. Steele St., Suite 1168. The renovated brick complex formerly hosted experiences such as David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar\u2019s \u201cTheater of the Mind,\u201d<\/a> a 2022 world-premiere immersive show that included virtual reality elements. The show is fully accessible for people with disabilities, including low vision and hearing impairment.<\/p>\n
\n![\""Smithsonian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TDP-Z-Starstruck-VR-Smithsonian-space-02.jpg\")
“Smithsonian Starstruck: An Immersive Experience” is a virtual reality show that depicts cosmic wonders, such as the black holes and the birth of stars, using real astronomical data. (Provided by Fever)\n<\/p>\n