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Remixed NASA Footage Asks "What if Kubrick Directed The Moon Landing?"

Concept artist Nick Acosta made a mash-up aptly titled "The Apollo 11 Moon Landing, recut to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey"

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As the 45th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing approaches (July 20th for those of you who don't already have it marked on your calendars), it's healthy for us humans to turn our gaze skyward and consider the infinite universe. Concept artist Nick Acosta took a break from his illustration workload to contemplate the stars, and the result is a reality-bending mash-up blending NASA stock footage with Stanley Kubrick's seminal sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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Acosta ignites the tribute—aptly titled, The Apollo 11 Moon Landing, re-cut to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odysseywith the elegant composition Blue Danube by Johann Strauss. Kubrick paired the song with satellites and rocket ships drifting through Earth's orbit, but Acosta's take on the song focuses on the actual escape from Earth's gravity. Astronauts prepare for the journey and enter the Apollo spacecraft as the song warms up, and then the rockets begin to fire as it gathers speed, offering exhilarating visuals of explosions in front of the delicate musical notes. Pyromaniacs take note: this moment will make you almost as giddy as the fireworks scene from V for Vendetta.

Later, the video delves into the deeper, darker elements of 2001, and Acosta spliced in footage from the film, which better links NASA's missions to Kubrick's space epic. You see protagonist Dave's familiar face—as well as a certain inter-dimensional star gate—intercut with the famous Apollo astronauts, while songs Requiem For Soprano and Also Sprach Zarathustra swing the mood between ominous and epic in the background.

Be sure to watch every minute of this out of this world homage—it's not quite as dense as Kubrick's intensely analyzed opus, but if you blink, you definitely might miss something.

Blast off to Acosta's website to find more of his work. Who knows, you may just discover the meaning of the cosmos, or—less likely—the meaning of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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h/t Reddit

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