When John F. Kennedy famously told a crowd of 40,000 people, the American public and ultimately the world that the US would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, he hailed technology’s role in getting that man there.

50 years after Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, technology is still driving progress in the world, and as a part of the anniversary of this significant event in world history, augmented reality seemed to take centre stage and put us all in the shoes of the man who took one small step for man.

Augmented reality, or AR short, was used by several newspapers, magazines and museums to help us imagine what it must have been like in those early days of space travel.

The Smithsonian Channel released an immersive AR app, which recreates the entire timeline of Apollo missions, allowing users to have such diverse experiences as launching a rocket from earth or piloting around on the moon’s surface with the Apollo lander.

Time magazine introduced the Landing on the Moon AR experience, which lets iOS users relive the moon landing, audio and all, and explore the moon’s surface with the legends of the Apollo 11 mission.

USA Today’s 321 Launch app focuses on recreating the launch of the Saturn V rocket in AR, while the New York Times used augmented reality to alter their original reporting of the event, turning it into something that users can experience more fully than most other events that took place five decades ago.

As technology improves exponentially, one can only wonder in what way it will contribute to our celebration of the technological milestones that chartered the course for where we are now, and where we will ultimately end up.


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