President Trump’s reelection campaign yanked a video from YouTube after complaints that it was politicizing NASA.
The video, released Wednesday, included shots of two NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, who traveled to space on Saturday aboard a SpaceX capsule.
Karen Nyberg, a retired astronaut married to Hurley, said it was “disturbing” that she and her son were shown in the video without her approval.
“I find it disturbing that a video image of me and my son is being used in political propaganda without my knowledge or consent. That is wrong,” she tweeted.
I find it disturbing that a video image of me and my son is being used in political propaganda without my knowledge or consent. That is wrong. @nasa @JimBridenstine https://t.co/cXcKHxmn6e
— Karen L. Nyberg (@AstroKarenN) June 4, 2020
More than 4,000 people signed a petition on Change.org that sought to “Stop Donald Trump politicizing SpaceX and NASA accomplishments” by the time the ad was pulled.
The nearly three-minute-long video showed President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech setting the goal of landing on the moon, the Apollo 11 mission, a 2018 Trump speech on space achievements, and Saturday’s launch.
The use of the footage appeared to violate NASA’s advertising regulations. The regulations don’t specifically ban political ads, but they do say NASA “will not promote or endorse or appear to promote or endorse a commercial product, service or activity.”
“Astronauts or employees who are currently employed by NASA cannot have their names, likenesses or other personality traits displayed in any advertisements or marketing material,” the regulations say.
