300 drones before a full moon

NASA Kennedy Space Center: Apollo 11 at 50

On 16 July 2019, fifty years after Apollo 11 lifted off, Studio DRIFT flew Franchise Freedom above the Rocket Garden at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. 300 Intel drones flew in front of a full moon while Duran Duran played live. It was the first drone show at Kennedy Space Center.

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In front of a full moon

The show followed the Apollo 50th Gala. Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke and Rick Armstrong, son of Neil Armstrong, were there. “Tonight we flew our artwork in front of the full moon. It felt like we were bringing some space travel history back to earth,” said Ralph Nauta.

Duran Duran, live

Duran Duran had seen Franchise Freedom at Art Basel Miami in 2017. For this night the band made an 8-minute orchestral version of their song “The Universe Alone” for the performance, and played it live under the swarm.

Seen around the world

More than 70 outlets covered the show, among them CNN, Dezeen, Hypebeast, Designboom and Wallpaper. It was also shown live in Times Square.

Franchise Freedom, a work by DRIFT, created by the artists Lonneke Gordijn, Ralph Nauta and Lucas van Oostrum. Read more about Franchise Freedom.

Photos: Ossip van Duivenbode.

NASA Kennedy Space Center: Apollo 11 at 50 drone show — photo 1

NASA Kennedy Space Center: Apollo 11 at 50 drone show — photo 2

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