PRESS COVERAGE AND AWARDS

AWARDS

Francesca Panetta receiving award for In Event of Moon Disaster at IDFA

The project has won several awards in addition to festival and exhibition selections:

News & Documentary Emmy Award – Outstanding Interactive Media: Documentary (2021)
Anthem Awards – Silver, Awareness (Nonprofit): Special Projects (2022)
Webby Awards – Nominee, NetArt (2021), and featured in the Webbys’ Crafted With Code
STARTS Prize – Nomination (2021)
IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling – Special Jury Award for Creative Technology (2019)
Mozilla Creative Media Award (2019)

PRESS

For press and other inquiries please contact info@moondisaster.org.
More information on the project for press purposes, including video, audio and photos can be found in our press pack.

SELECTED PRESS

“President Nixon had a speech ready, in case the Apollo 11 mission to the moon failed in 1969. MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality got their hands on it and created this fake video of Nixon remembering the astronauts. It was created to show the power of so-called deepfake videos.”

— CBS This Morning, November 25, 2019

WGBH, Open Studio with Jared Bowen, November 18, 2022

The Boston Globe	At MIT, a deepfake film about a moon disaster that’s both frightening and weirdly inspiring	2026
The Sunday Times	What if the first men on the moon had crash-landed?	2024
The Art Newspaper	Space-race fakery, a CIA manual and a 10ft man: group show reveals the art of deception	2023
The New York Times	Worries Grow That TikTok Is New Home for Manipulated Video and Photos	2022
Smithsonian Magazine	This Deepfake Exhibition Shows How Convincing the New Technology Can Be	2022
Artnet News	Dive Into the Confusing and Manipulative World of Deepfakes Through This Chilling Show at the Museum of the Moving Image	2022
The Ringer	How They Made It: The Deeply Real Deepfakes of ‘For All Mankind’	2021
Scientific American	A Nixon Deepfake, a ‘Moon Disaster’ Speech and an Information Ecosystem at Risk	2020
MIT Technology Review	The year deepfakes went mainstream	2020
NBC News	Apollo 11 ‘disaster’ video project highlights growing danger of deepfake tech	2020
CBC Radio, As It Happens	People are ‘scared and impressed’ by this Nixon moon landing deepfake Radio	2019
Vice	Artists Used Deepfake Tech to Tell Alternate Moon Landing History	2019

ADDITIONAL PRESS

2025–2026

The Boston Globe	From ‘For All Mankind’ to ‘Project Hail Mary’: Exploring the vastness of space on screen
Screen Rant	Every Movie Using Divisive AI Voice Tech

2024 · What Is Truth?, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich

BBC Radio 4, Front Row	Marjane Satrapi, using AI for alternative history, and the Harlow Sculpture Trail Radio
The Telegraph	How Nixon rose from the dead to deliver a eulogy to astronauts
Eastern Daily Press	One small step for man, one giant leap for AI at the Sainsbury Centre
ITV News Anglia	How a deepfake Richard Nixon on show at a Norwich museum could help safeguard democracy
Church Times	Art review: What is Truth? In Event of Moon Disaster and The Camera Never Lies
The Tablet	Seeing is disbelieving: art, AI and deep fakery No longer online

2023

BBC World Service, The Forum	A deep dive into deepfakes Radio
France Culture	Et si l’intelligence artificielle reconstruisait l’histoire ? Video · French
US Department of Homeland Security	Digital Forgeries Report: Technology Landscape Threat Assessment Report

2022 · Deepfake: Unstable Evidence on Screen, Museum of the Moving Image, New York

Popular Science	Deepfakes may use new technology, but they’re based on an old idea
Hyperallergic	How Do We Know What’s Real in the Era of the Deepfake?
WGBH, Open Studio with Jared Bowen	Full show, November 18, 2022 Video
Gigazine	I do not know what is true and what is false information in the video “In Event of Moon Disaster”
Deutschlandfunk Kultur	Realitätsverschiebung: Die eigentliche Gefahr von Deep Fakes Radio · German
Religion Unplugged	Museum Exhibition And Short Film Highlights Influence Of The Satanic Panic Four Decades Later
Mind Matters	What Happened When a Deepfake Got Weaponized in the Ukraine War
Reverse Shot	Where the Truth Lies: Deepfake
Queens Chronicle	MoMI’s ‘Deepfake’ exhibit is all too real
Queens Daily Eagle	MoMI explores deep fakes, technology and misinformation
Musée Magazine	Exhibition Review: Deepfake: Unstable Evidence on Screen
Dazed	Will deepfakes rewrite history as we know it?
Free Malaysia Today	Exhibition cautions people to be wary of ‘deepfakes’
The Workprint	How a digital recreation entirely replaced Mark Hamill’s Luke No longer online
Gothamist / WNYC	How Scared Should We Be of Deepfakes? A New Exhibit Provides a Revealing Look
Museum Archipelago	Richard Nixon Hoped to Never Say These Words about Apollo 11. In A New Exhibit, He Does. Podcast
SlashGear	The Terrifying Truth About The Evolution Of Deep Fakes
Dwutygodnik	W razie wypadku Polish

2021 · News & Documentary Emmy, and the Danish edition

Michael Grothaus	Trust No One: Inside the World of Deepfakes (Hodder & Stoughton) Book
Goethe-Institut	Stranding astronauts on the moon, by Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund
Goethe-Institut	Combatting disinformation: Putting deepfakes in perspective
Sloan Science & Film	Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund on Deepfakes
ZDNet	‘The Beatles: Get Back’ shows that deepfake tech isn’t always evil
Illustreret Bunker	Deepfakes genopliver præsidenter og erstatter nyhedsværter – så hvordan navigerer man i den nye teknologi? No longer online · Danish
RT	The real dangers of deepfake, explored
ZDNet	Nixon’s unheard moon-disaster speech is now a warning about the deepfake future
Radio Nova, Aftenklubben	I tilfælde af måneulykke med Magnus Bjerg Podcast · Danish
Journalisten (Norway)	Dansk journalist forfalsket Nixon-tale, vant Emmy-pris Norwegian
DR P1, P1 Morgen	October 1, 2021 No longer online · Radio · Danish
Journalisten	Dansk journalist vinder stor pris i USA for deepfake-projekt med Nixon Danish
Mediawatch	Dansk journalist scorer Emmy for deepfake-film Danish

2020 · Online launch for the Apollo 11 anniversary

Fortune	This moon landing video is fake
Frieze	Can You Spot a Deepfake?
The Independent	Deepfake footage of Nixon reading Apollo ‘disaster’ speech highlights misinformation dangers
Insider	An eerie deepfake shows Nixon announcing a tragic end to Apollo 11 that never happened
CNET	MIT releases deepfake video of ‘Nixon’ announcing NASA Apollo 11 disaster
MIT Technology Review	Inside the strange new world of being a deepfake actor
Brave New Planet (Pushkin)	Deepfakes and the Future of Truth Podcast
NECN	Deepfakes: What happens when you can’t trust your own eyes No longer online · Video
Ekstra Bladet	‘Historisk’ tale: Snyder de også dig? Danish
FM104, Room 104	How A Deepfake Nixon Made Alternative History Podcast
NowThis	No longer online · Video
Sputnik	Apollo 11: Richard Nixon Reads ‘Moon Disaster’ Speech in Deepfake Video
The Hill	Deepfakes threaten the 2020 election
Oregon Live	Mesmerizing deep fake video shows Richard Nixon giving nationally broadcast Apollo 11 eulogy he never had to give
MIT Sloan	Deepfakes, explained
The A.V. Club	Scientists highlight the dangers of deepfakes by reimagining Apollo 11 as a disaster
SciTechDaily	“In Event of Moon Disaster”: Watch the Disturbing MIT Deepfake Video of Nixon Announcing Apollo 11 Tragedy
Fox News	Creepy Apollo 11 Nixon deepfake video created by MIT to show dangers of high-tech misinformation
Boston 25	MIT launches website to educate public on the dangers of deepfake videos Video
Boston 25	What if Apollo 11 had gone badly? ‘Deepfake’ video shows an alternative message from Nixon
WFTV 9 (Orlando)	What if Apollo 11 had gone badly? ‘Deepfake’ video shows an alternative message from Nixon
New York Post	MIT creates disturbing ‘deepfake’ video of Nixon announcing Apollo 11 disaster
Mic	In a chillingly realistic deepfake, Nixon mourns the loss of the Apollo 11 astronauts
Digital Trends	An alternate history of the moon landing, brought to you by deepfakes
Space.com	Apollo 11 ‘disaster’ video project highlights growing danger of deepfake tech
collectSPACE	MIT creates Apollo 11 ‘moon disaster’ to explore danger of deepfakes
UPI	MIT using Nixon ‘moon disaster’ video to educate about deepfakes
Hindustan Times Tech	There’s a deepfake that shows US prez Nixon announcing a tragic end to Apollo 11 that never happened
TechEBlog	In Event of Moon Disaster Short Film Uses Deepfake Technology to Show Nixon Announcing Apollo 11 Tragedy
Voicebot.ai	Rewriting the Moon Landing With a Deepfake Built on Synthetic Speech
PopDust	In Event of Moon Disaster: Nixon deepfake offers an eerie glimpse of a moon landing disaster No longer online
Dual Dove	Apollo 11 disaster video shows how the media manipulates using deepfake tech No longer online
NPR, Morning Edition	Radio
Sky News / FYI	TV
The Register	51 years after humans first set foot on the Moon, a deepfaked Nixon mourns how Armstrong and Aldrin never made it home
Boston.com	Using deepfake technology, MIT crafts the Nixon ‘moon disaster’ speech that never happened
Genbeta	Un deepfake logra que Nixon pronuncie un discurso que nunca tuvo lugar: el de la muerte en la Luna de Armstrong y Aldrin Spanish
Boston 25	How a special effect technology could affect the 2020 election Video

2019 · Premiere at IDFA DocLab, Amsterdam

The Boston Globe	What if the moon landing had ended in disaster? A convincing deepfake imagines that alternate reality.
Popular Mechanics	This Nixon Deepfake Is an Alternate Reality Where Apollo 11 Fails
Newsweek	MIT Deepfake Video ‘Nixon Announcing Apollo 11 Disaster’ Shows the Power of Disinformation
WBUR, Morning Edition	President Nixon Never Actually Gave This Apollo 11 Disaster Speech. MIT Brought It To Life To Illustrate Power Of Deepfakes Radio
Gizmodo	Deepfake Art Project Reimagines Nixon’s Speech Had Apollo 11 Gone Horribly Wrong
Euronews, #TheCube	Tour of “In Event of Moon Disaster” exhibition, Amsterdam Video
Inverse	Nixon delivers moon landing disaster speech in MIT deepfake video
Perú21	El escalofriante deepfake viral que anuncia la muerte de los astronautas que iban a la Luna Spanish
KCRW, Here Be Monsters	HBM125: Deepfaking Nixon Podcast
Axios	In a deepfake, Nixon laments a catastrophe that wasn’t
kottke.org	A Deepfake Nixon Delivers Eulogy for the Apollo 11 Astronauts
Boing Boing	Nixon deepfaked to read his prepared speech for a moon-landing disaster
InsideHook	MIT Creates Richard Nixon Deepfake for Space Emergency Speech
Futurism	MIT deepfake shows Nixon sadly saying the Moon astronauts died
Voices of VR	#846 DocLab: Deep Fake of a Synthesized Nixon Speech that Never Happened Podcast
KOIN 6	The moon landing gets a tragic reboot Video
Medium	IDFA DocLab 2019: Field notes
OneZero	An Eerie Historical Deepfake Imagines Nixon Telling the World the Moon Landing Failed
Euronews	Do deepfakes have the power to rewrite history?
Artnet News	An Art Project From MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality Warns How Easily Deepfake Technology Can Be Used to Rewrite History
Universe Today	Here’s a Deepfake of Nixon Giving a Eulogy for the Apollo 11 Astronauts if Their Mission Failed
Digg	MIT Made A Deepfake Of Richard Nixon Making The Speech He Would’ve Gave If The Apollo 11 Moon Mission Ended In Tragedy No longer online

Co-Directed by Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund | An MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality production

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.