Fifty-five years ago on this very same July date, humans were walking, sometimes bounding, on the surface of the moon. Today, movie audiences are being treated to a spoof suggesting a fake version of the successful mission was filmed just in case Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin met a tragic ending.
“Fly Me to the Moon,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, has received good, not great, reviews. The premise of the film is entirely fictitious. There is no evidence an alternate depiction of the historic moon landing was created.
But, did government leaders truly not consider a worst case scenario? And what should be the reaction by public officials, especially the president, Richard Nixon?
Oh, but they did. A short speech was written for Nixon by William Safire should the astronauts be unable to return from the moon.
Nowadays, through the magic of deep-fake technology, you can watch a 7:46 minute film clip of the voyage to the moon and see Nixon deliver somber news to the nation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLadJFI8Pk).
See if you can detect what is real, what is not. And the next time you are in Boston (actually Kendall Square, Cambridge) visit, as my family did, the MIT Museum to visualize yourself seated in a 1969-style living room in front of a console television screen broadcasting news of man’s ascent to the heavens
