Intel Corporation flies 2,018 Intel Shooting Star drones over its Folsom, California, facility, in July 2018. The drone light show set a Guinness World Records title for the most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously. (Credit: Intel Corporation)
A lightshow crafted by the artists of Studio Drift and a performance by the band Duran Duran is planned for Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.
The drone light show “Franchise Freedom” will take place July 16 in the Complex’s Rocket Garden. Consisting of hundreds of Intel Shooting Star drones, the show envisions how technology and nature can intertwine.
“The Apollo 11 Moon landing exemplifies what technology can do for humanity. We’re ready and excited for the next 50 years,” said Ralph Nauta, co-founder of Studio Drift in a statement.
“In July 1969 an entire generation, around the world, was ‘Moonstruck,'” said Duran Duran co-founder Nick Rhodes in a statement. “I was one of those kids watching in complete amazement on TV as the Lunar Module touched down, and Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon. I remember rushing outside immediately after the broadcast to just stare up into the night sky. It was surreal and awe inspiring—science fiction unfolding before us. I tried to picture what it must be like for the astronauts who were up there—but it was all so utterly unimaginable. We’d simply never witnessed anything like it before. It felt like a new beginning. Everything was encapsulated in that one moment, nothing was ever going to be the same again. It represented hope, belief and opportunity—opening our minds to what mankind was capable of achieving.”
Photos courtesy of Studio Drift and Dee Ann Divis.
The event is being supported by the Aldrin Family Foundation and profits from the concert will support the Foundation’s STEAM education programs. STEAM provides different educational tools, curriculum and programs appropriate to a child’s first classroom experience all the way through graduate school and professional programs.
“This vertical pathway unites explorers at all levels to learn from each other’s vision for space, ultimately creating the first generation of Martians. We aim to create the game changers of tomorrow by exploring space and to help make the world a better place,” the organization said on its website.
