ABC News Carrie Halperin reports:

Alfonso Cuarón's 3-D adventure "Gravity," is being hailed as the movie experience of the year, taking the audience to a place that feels so much like space even an astronaut can barely tell the difference.

The film begins 372 miles above earth on a standard mission, but very early on disaster strikes. Space debris has left the shuttle destroyed, with the two surviving astronauts-tethered to nothing but each other, drifting out into the darkness.

The film stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, whose performances are already provoking Oscar buzz.

Stunning performances aside, what makes this film so exceptional is the cinematography, described as a mathematical miracle, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki takes you on a journey that's out of this world. The film's budget was a relatively modest $80 million, but they sure did deliver a lot of bang for the buck. The only other time space has been brought this close to reality was in 2010 when NASA released its IMAX documentary "Hubble."

I visited New York City's Intrepid Air and Space Museum with astronaut Michael J. Massimino, who was featured in "Hubble," and some have described, as the inspiration for the George Clooney character, to get an expert's opinion on how close to reality this film came.

"The detail of the 'Gravity' movie of the Hubble Space Telescope is amazing, I felt like I was there again," Massimino said. "Somebody took a lot of time to make it very, very realistic as far the accuracy of the telescope and the shuttle and the spacesuits and the views are very accurate, to see them up on the big screen is just wonderful."

Massimino says seeing the film brought back his experience in space.

"The view of the earth from a spacewalk is just spectacular, when you see the planet from a distance, you don't see borders you get this sense of unification of our world, and I think if everyone could get that view I think we'd be better off, more interested in taking care of our planet and being nice to each other, and appreciating what a great home we have," he said.

"Gravity" touches down in theaters Friday.