According to a recent release from NASA, a NASA doctor appeared as a hologram at the International Space Station for a telemedicine visit with an astronaut in Oct. 8, 2021. NASA called this experience a holoportation, combining hologram and transportation.

Dr. Josef Schmid and his crew were holoported to the ISS using the Microsoft Hololens Kinect camera and a personal computer with custom software Aexa, according to an April 8 release from NASA. Schmid had a virtual conversation with astronaut Thomas Pesquet as part of a 3D telemedicine visit.

“We’ll use this for our private medical conferences, private psychiatric conferences, private family conferences and to bring VIPs onto the space station to visit with astronauts,” Schmid said.

The technology allows users to interact with remote participants in 3D as if they were physically in the same space.

This feels very Star Wars-y to me.