(Sep 11, 2013)

A virtual reality prototype headset developed in the Aerospace Human Factors Research Division (a predecessor to the Human Systems Integration Division) was recently placed on display in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

The handmade prototype headset is for one of the first "virtual reality" displays ever built. Developed in 1985 by Jim Humphries and Mike McGreevy at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, the system created a computer-generated image of what a pilot might see during an actual flight. Sensors tracked the movement of the wearer's head, and the displayed images moved accordingly.