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Microsoft's big HoloLens 2 Apollo demo at Build 2019 suffers failure to launch

We were supposed to see a recreation of the Apollo mission, but now you can catch it on YouTube.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
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Update: You can now see the practice run of the cool demo on YouTube, shown above (via Variety).  Watch Neil Armstrong climb out of the lander and step on the moon!

Microsoft Build started with a big oopsie. John Knoll of Industrial Light and Magic and space historian Andy Chaikan got on stage at Microsoft's developer conference on Monday to wow us with a recreation of the Apollo 11 mission using the new Unreal Engine support for the HoloLens 2. 

But it sputtered on the launchpad, as you can see from the video below. The music starts, some awkward laughter as the video doesn't, and Chaikin offers, "Well, it seems that doing a live demo is harder than landing on the moon." To which Knoll replied, "Indeed." Chaikin thanked us for our time, and the two left the stage.

There's no shame in a failed live demo, but there's usually lot more embarrassment when someone spends a long time publicly trying to recover. Good on Knoll and Chaikan.

Watch this: Microsoft Build 2019 opens with awkward demo fail

Updated 4:00 p.m. ET: Added YouTube video of the practice session for the demo.

Read on ZDNet: Microsoft Build 2019: Azure is the star, and Windows is a bit player