LAUSANNE, Switzerland—The final frontier has rarely seemed closer than this—at least virtually. Researchers at one of Switzerland’s top universities are releasing open-source beta software on Tuesday that allows for virtual visits through the cosmos including up to the International Space Station, past the Moon, Saturn or exoplanets, over galaxies, and well beyond. The program—called Virtual Reality Universe Project (VIRUP)—pulls together what the researchers call the largest data set of the universe to create three-dimensional, panoramic visualizations of space. Software engineers, astrophysicists, and experimental museology experts at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have come together to concoct the virtual map that can be viewed through individual VR gear, immersion systems like panoramic cinema with 3D glasses, planetarium-like dome screens, or just on a PC for two-dimensional viewing. “The novelty of this project was putting all the data set available into one framework, when you can see the universe at …