---
title: "MIT Deepfake Shows Nixon Sadly Saying the Moon Astronauts Died"
description: "A new deepfake shows what it would have looked like if the Apollo 11 mission failed and then-president Nixon had to deliver the backup speech he had ready."
date: "2019-11-22"
modified: "2019-11-22"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-deepfake-nixon-moon-astronauts-died"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Moon"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "Apollo"
  - "deepfake"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# MIT Deepfake Shows Nixon Sadly Saying the Moon Astronauts Died

![A new deepfake shows what it would have looked like if the Apollo 11 mission failed and then-president Nixon had to deliver the backup speech he had ready.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/mit-deepfake-nixon-saying-moon-astronauts-died.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Halsey Burgund via YouTube\</em\>*

## Rewriting History

In the event that Apollo 11 — the NASA mission that sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the Moon — failed, President Nixon had a speech written and [ready to go](<https://www.archives.gov/files/presidential-libraries/events/centennials/nixon/images/exhibit/rn100-6-1-2.pdf>).

Because the mission succeeded, Nixon never delivered the speech, but MIT engineers used deepfake technology to create a news broadcast in which a digitally-reconstructed Nixon delivers the bad news, *[WBUR News ](<https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/11/22/mit-nixon-deep-fake>)*[reports](<https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/11/22/mit-nixon-deep-fake>). The [deepfake](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaq4sWFvnAY>), which will be presented at a film festival Friday, illustrates just how easy it is to make virtual puppets deliver convincing speeches, even if they're totally removed from history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaq4sWFvnAY

## Behind The Scenes

Francesca Panetta, co-director of the larger film in which the deepfake appears, told *WBUR* that she had someone actually read the script while impersonating Nixon's intonation and then used software to make the recording sound even more like Nixon's voice. It's not the [most advanced way](<https://futurism.com/pioneer-perfect-deepfake-six-months-away>) to create deepfakes out there, but it still gets the job done.

"I had one person say, 'Oh, so you got an impersonator to impersonate Nixon,'" she told *WBUR*. "They didn't think it was a synthetic voice. I had someone else say, 'Oh, so Nixon actually did record this? They filmed him saying this as a contingency speech then in case it happened?' And I was like, 'Wow! OK — you thought they filmed this before. I guess it worked.'"

**READ MORE:** [President Nixon Never Actually Gave This Apollo 11 Disaster Speech. MIT Brought It To Life To Illustrate Power Of Deepfakes](<https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/11/22/mit-nixon-deep-fake>) \[*WBUR News*\]

**More on deepfakes:** *[New Law Makes It Illegal to Distribute Political Deepfakes](<https://futurism.com/law-political-deepfakes-illegal>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)