Apart from taking spectacular photographs above space like the last one by astronaut Scott Kelly of a breathtaking view of San Francisco on Monday, the crew aboard the International Space Station also enjoy movie nights where they just received a major upgrade with the first ever projection screen to be used in microgravity. 

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The crew was previously limited to watching movies on laptops and tablets but now, the astronauts and cosmonauts who will be spending six months to a year in the orbitng lab can watch their favorite films on this unique, ambient light rejecting, zero gravity screen.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted and shared a photo of the ingenious screen while the crew was watching the movie Gravity on Saturday, April 25. 

Called the ISS Viewscreen, it is measured at 65 inches and developed by Austin company Screen Innovations upon the special request of NASA. The screen was transported to the space station aboard SpaceX's Dragon cargo resupply ship that arrived at the ISS last April 17.

According to Ryan Gustafson who is the chief exectuive officer of SI, space is the ultimate environment, if we can put a screen there, we can put a screen anywhere on the planet.

In a span of eight months, SI was able to develop and design the ISS Viewscreen where their engineering team figured out how to make an ultra portable, quick to deploy setup and also preserving contrast ratios even with the lights on at the space station.

However, one challenge that faced SI was that the screen could not be easily packed away and a permanent screen for installing is not a viable option in space.

According to SI technology specialist Tom Nugent, fixed screens are easier but to make it portable during setup can pose a lot of challenges.

In light of this dilemma, SI apparently introduced a new screen material called Slate that can be rolled up and stretched out and can be easily cleaned with microfibercloth. After a Slate demonstration from SI, NASA representatives immediately agreed for this to be launched into space.

Working together with the SI's Slate viewscreen, NASA used a commercial HD laser light projector. The projector is now secured in place at the station using Velcro and the same mounts where the crew use for their laptops.

Apart from movie nights, the ISS Viewscreen can also be used to project their training exercises and weekly video conferences with their families back home where the benefits are "literally huge" says SI.

TagsISS, NASA, ISS astronauts gravity movie, first projector in space, scott kelly astronaut, screen innovations