Apple Vision Pro users will be able to experience NASA’s Artemis II launch in immersive video
by Horace Dediu
An experience money can't buy
NASA’s Artemis program is about to get the cinematic treatment it deserves — and Apple Vision Pro owners are in for an unforgettable ride…
On Monday, March 30, 2026, filmmaker and space documentarian Cosmic Perspective (@considercosmos) shared thrilling behind-the-scenes footage showing the first wave of high-end cameras being installed inside the launch pad perimeter at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The star of the show? A sleek Blackmagic Design URSA Cine Immersive camera, complete with its signature dual-lens stereoscopic rig, ready to capture the thunderous liftoff in true 3D spatial video.
The short video pans across the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket standing tall on the pad, with the immersive Blackmagic camera prominently featured in the foreground. Other pro rigs — complete with furry windshields and sturdy tripods — dot the grassy viewing areas, signaling that this won’t be just another standard rocket launch broadcast. This is next-level, immersive filmmaking designed to put viewers right in the middle of the action.
Source: MacDailyNews
NB: Immersive video is angling for a cut of the live event business…
…but the exciting part is also the ability to offer experiences that money can't buy. This is such an example. So is the "Flight Ready" video I experienced on Vision Pro. You can't buy tickets to observe flight operations on an aircraft carrier at sea.
Stereoscopic 3D capture, ultra-high dynamic range, and color science, new cameras promise footage that will feel real when viewed in the Vision Pro’s immersive environment. "Being there" audio layered with 3D spatial video that lets you turn your head and look and feel all around you.
As "video" is the default social media and is produced by anybody with a phone, the premium experience is moving into something that no longer fits on a rectangular screen.
What is that worth? What is the value of professional production? Is the profession of film making being commoditized? The answer isn't to just be better the answer is to move into a new market. It's to develop experiences not just a tableau.
I can imagine these cameras being not only on the launch site but on the landing site on the moon as well. What would be the value of providing an immersive experience of landing on the moon?
3 comments
Sacto Joe ·
Hoping we don't see a detonation, for a bunch of reasons. Sadly, this craft is horribly outdated, and needs to be a lesson going forward.
But will it be? I seriously doubt it....
Sacto Joe ·
Very pleased that, so far, all is going well with the SLS (which we in the outer space interest group call the Senate Launch System, btw, being the giant corporate welfare project that it is).
I'm just as pleased that Blue Origin has also developed a reusable rocket, giving SpaceX some real competition going forward. Of course, SpaceX hasn't been sitting on its laurels, but is going fully reusable with the Starship....
Sacto Joe ·
FYI, I've been President of the local Sacramento chapter of the National Space Society for a couple of decades now....
And yes, I have a Vision Pro, but no, I didn't watch the launch. Way too busy these days to even break it out....