Microsoft’s HoloLens has explosive launch – literally – as ISS delivery goes up in flames

It probably wasn’t the explosive launch for HoloLens that Microsoft was hoping for.

While the augmented reality tech might be yet to make its way to land-bound consumers, NASA’s finest were set to try it out ahead of time thanks to a delivery of the headsets to the International Space Station.

Unfortunately, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on which the experimental wearables were travelling came to a brief halt just over two minutes into its trip, exploding mid-air.

The two HoloLens goggles joined about 230 kilogrammes of other resources, such as food, scientific equipment and other supplies, in a shower of debris that rained back down to Earth after a failure in one of the craft’s oxygen tanks led to the explosion.

NASA is already utilising Microsoft’s latest venture here on Earth, simulating Mars’ environment in conjunction with the Curiosity rover on the planet.

Had they survived the trip, the HoloLens glasses would’ve been used by the astronauts inhabiting the ISS in a number of ways, including letting them share visual data with their colleagues back home via a software suite called Sidekick.