What if the Moon Landing Occurred in the Age of Social Media

Yesterday was the 42nd anniversary of the first moon walk and today Atlantis returns home, signaling the end of the NASA Space Shuttle Program. The event will be discussed on social media channels; however, not with nearly with the same excitement as missions of old. Space exploration just doesn’t capture the nation’s attention like it once did.

The height of NASA’s achievements, or at least the most-fondly-remembered one, was the first Moon Landing. I don’t know how many of you believe tin foil hats are a fashion statement, but let’s assume for the sake of argument that this event did in fact take place. That said, I wondered how would people have watched and talked about one of the most important events in world history. What if the Moon Landing occurred in the age of social media?

YouTube

NASA partners with YouTube for a live webcast of the landing, in color no less (hey, why not?). The webcast garners hundreds of millions of viewers from around the world instantly becoming YouTube’s most-watched video of all-time.

Twitter

Neil Armstrong’s famous words “That’s one small step for man…” were actually not what he was supposed to say. He was supposed to say “a man.” Since he gets the chance to write it down this time, he gets it right.

A combination of Neil’s photography skills and Buzz’s modeling ability combine to make one of the most shared pictures on the Internet.

The event was heavily discussed on Twitter. Here’s what the icons of the time had to say.

The Meme: Neil Armstrong Is Unimpressed

This photo of Neil Armstrong inspires a meme of the famous astronaut being unimpressed by late 60s pop culture icons.

The Woodstock Festival is held from August 15-18 during which Jimi Hendrix does his famous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid premieres September 23rd, 1969.

The first episode of Sesame Street aires on November 10th, 1969

Pelé, perhaps the world’s greatest soccer player, scored his 1000th goal on November 19th, 1969.

Special thanks to Brent Sobeleski for the YouTube and Twitter graphics.