Relive Apollo 11 In Virtual Reality With NYC Mall's Simulation

NEW YORK — You could watch the decades old footage of the first moon landing — or relive it for yourself. A virtual-reality simulation coming to a Staten Island mall will retrace the steps of the Apollo 11 mission to mark its 50th anniversary and go even further into space.

"Apollo 11 & Beyond" at Empire Outlets promises to put visitors in a Saturn V rocket, give them a first-hand look at the pioneering first lunar landing and then transport them through time for a visit to Mars.

The exhibit, due to open the week of July 29, will be among several adventures shoppers can take at Empire Outlets's VR attraction called Virtual Rush: New York. The shows were developed by Pulseworks, an Atlanta-based entertainment company that developed a recently opened Apollo 11 simulation at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

To take the 8-to-10-minute trip, visitors will sit on a special motion platform and wear high-tech headgear that will jet them off to the moon. Then they'll see the fleet of spacecraft that built the renowned International Space Station and visit the Martian landscape.

The mission promises to teach visitors "how early spaceflight pioneers like the Apollo astronauts made the successes of the subsequent Space Shuttle program and International Space Station possible and helped forge a new path towards long-term planetary exploration," according to Empire Outlets.

If space travel isn't enough, Virual Rush: New York will also give Empire Outlets shoppers a chance to travel underwater, fly through the air and take other VR voyages between visits to Banana Republic, the Gap Factory or any other of the mall's dozens of retailers.

The VR attraction will use "4D" effects combining images with other sensory stimuli, according to a press release.

"Empire Outlets has already established itself as New York City’s latest can’t miss attraction, and now we are taking that experience to the next level," Joseph Ferrara, a principal of Empire Outlets developer BFC Partners, said in a statement.

"Apollo 11 & Beyond" will cost $13 plus tax. But there are other ways to commemorate the July 20, 1969 moon landing in the city if the thought of a virtual rocket launch gives you motion sickness.

The Aldrin Family Foundation and The People's Moon will host a daylong event to mark the occasion Saturday in Times Square that will transform the Crossroads of the World into Tranquility Base, the site of the moon landing. There will also be free screenings Saturday and Sunday of moon landing footage, two documentaries and a scripted show at the Paley Center for Media in Midtown.