Apollo 11 Moon Landing VR

Fifty years ago, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. Follow in their footsteps, hold their camera and recreate their historic photographs for the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.

Produced with The Mill as Lead Producer for The New York Times

| Brief

The New York Times commissioned the Mill to recreate the Apollo 11 lunar site for an AR and VR experience to commemorate the 50th year anniversary of the moon landing and the recent public release of the astronauts’ photography.

| Process

The Mill was tasked with creating accurate models of the landing site to be viewed inside the New York Times digital issue as well as on Oculus Quests at a 50th celebratory event. The reconstruction of the scene was based on large amounts of research provided by NYT, which included maps, stitched panoramas and precise photo locations placed in a physically accurate 3D scene. The content was built and optimized for mobile hardware (phones and Quest). The VR experience was developed in Unreal.

| Outcome

What we ended up creating was a mixed reality gallery that housed select photos and panoramas accurately placed in the recreated landing site. It was our aim to give the user the view that Neil Armstrong had while taking these photos on the surface of the moon.

Alongside the app, the New York Times released an accompanying feature piece, followed by a behind the scenes article and an event commemorating the anniversary.

Feature: Apollo 11 As They Shot It Article

Behind the Scenes: Times Insider: How We Augmented Our Original Reporting of the Moon Landing for Its 50th Anniversary

Event: One Giant Leap: The Apollo 11 Moon Landing, 50 Years On

Awards: Nominated for a 2020 Webby Award in the News: Immersive and Mixed Reality Category & for a 2020 AICP Next Award in the Extended Reality Category

The Build

The Event

Credits

Brand/Client: New York Times

Production: The Mill Experience
Executive Creative Director: Rama Allen
Executive Producer: Desi Gonzalez
Lead Producer: Paula Ceballos
Production Coordinator: Oliver Schwartz
Creative Director: Will Adams
Lead Developer: Jimmy Gass
Sr Technical Artist: Xuan Seifert
Developer: Jeffrey Wang
Modeler/texturer: Damian Kwiatkowski, Alek Vacura, Laura Nash
UI Designer: James Van Den Elshout