Are you ready to use your hands to fly to the moon and play among the stars? Elon Musk and the engineers at SpaceX aren’t the only ones using Leap Motion technology to explore other worlds. With these 11 space-inspired apps available in the Airspace Store or on the web, you can learn about the universe, travel the galaxy, or jump into your starship to shoot down bad guys.

Science & Education

Exoplanet: Reach for the stars and explore every known exoplanet in this science app for Mac. Soar from the inner reaches of our solar system to the outer fringes of the universe.

Google Earth: Explore alien landscapes by selecting Moon or Mars from the top toolbar in Google Earth. (Check out this guide on how to enable Leap Motion in Google Earth.)

Solar Walk: Navigate through space and time in Solar Walk, an educational app for Mac. Learn about the inner structures and history of the planets, or zoom out to see the known galaxy.

Games

Catch Up Calu: You’ve overslept, Calu! Scramble into your spaceship and try to catch up with your fellow alien invaders, weaving through outer space, canyons, and cityscapes.

Debris: In this high-octane game for Windows, Earth is under siege and you’re humanity’s last hope for salvation. Dodge treacherous space debris as you race towards home to deliver your payload.

Escape Velocity: Fly your spaceship through an exploding mothership, avoid asteroids, and escape from homing missiles.

Sky Muffins: Descend from outer space and dodge asteroids and storm clouds in this arcade-style game for Mac.

Solar Warfare: Jump into your starship and fly into combat on eight worlds. Shoot down enemy battleships, jets, tanks, and turrets as you navigate through stunning 3D landscapes.

Free Web Apps

To start your trip to the stars with these free Leap Motion web apps, we recommend Google Chrome. Make sure you’ve checked the “Allow Web Apps” box in the Leap Motion Control Panel, General tab.

Gliese 3D Star Map: With this browser-based interactive 3D map, you can grab and drag your way through the 3,000 stars within 25 light-years of Earth.

Fastkat Leap: Fly through space at breathtaking speeds and dodge the stars.

Flying Saucer Championship: Guide your flying saucer with your finger or a pencil to collect tokens and avoid crashing into obstacles.

Elon Musk and SpaceX want to take humanity to other planets. To help make that dream a reality, the real-life inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man has been using the Leap Motion Controller to design a rocket part prototype using hand gestures. It’s a truly new experience for the pioneering company, bringing together cutting-edge aerospace engineering with our Leap Motion Controller. And it’s the very same device that anyone can buy on leapmotion.com or grab off the shelf at Best Buy or Maplins for $79.99.

Musk tweeted about SpaceX’s touchless design system on August 23, and it quickly went viral:

By integrating the Leap Motion Controller with their CAD platform, SpaceX engineers can manipulate virtual rocket parts with a high degree of nuance and control. It allows them to dive into virtual models and see them in new ways. From design to prototype, the component can be printed in titanium in a matter of days at SpaceX headquarters.

Founded by Musk in 2002, SpaceX designs, manufacturers, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. They’ve already become the first private company to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit and resupply the International Space Station. With their Falcon Heavy rocket, they soon hope to send a crewed spacecraft on lunar orbiting missions.

But their true giant leap for mankind, enabling human settlements on other planets, is a dream decades in the making. Meeting this challenge means nothing less than bringing science fiction to life – playing with engineering and design concepts to create something new. By exploring touch-free interaction with CAD and the Leap Motion Controller, SpaceX takes another first step towards that giant leap.