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YouTube Space Lab

the rundown

Through the wonder of space we challenged 14-18 year olds to dream up an experiment to be carried aboard the International Space Station and streamed live on YouTube. The number of children studying science subjects has dropped in recent years, and with the decline of NASA’s shuttles, the world seems less interested in space now than it did for the latter half of the 20th century. YouTube, in partnership with Lenovo, NASA and other space agencies revealed to the world a new initiative to capture the imagination of students and teachers and reinvigorate the study of space and space science.

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The Building Blocks

We used the latest Web Technologies to create the Space Lab YouTube Channel which houses a simulation allowing visitors to take off in their own rocket from anywhere on the planet. The site featured live NASA tweets and imagery, real-time ISS location tracking and technology from Lenovo who supply laptops to the ISS. We also created video content ranging from NASA astronauts floating in microgravity, to Stephen Hawking describing his belief about the future of humanity resting out in space, to our hugely popular trailer video that kick-started the imagination of YouTubers to start submitting their entries.

The Votes

The Details

Agency
Brand
YouTube
Targeted Regions
  • Global
Marketing Objective
Launch Date
Oct. 11, 2011

The Team

  • Google Creative Lab
  • Steve Vranakis, CD
  • Tom Uglow, CD
  • Ross Warren, CD
  • Toaster Ltd www.toasterltd.com
  • Aidan Sharkley, CD
  • Rich Mills, CD
  • Tom Dunn, CD
  • Rakesh Mistry, CD
  • Weir + Wong weirandwong.com/
  • Andy Weir, CD
  • Robin Wong, CD
  • Across the Pond Productions www.atp.tv
  • Alexia Merrington, CD
  • Jack Colem, CD
  • Christian Anderson Ramshall, CD
  • Deborah Znaty, CD
  • YouTube
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The Stats

  • 5 million YouTube Channel views
  • 2K amazing and creative video entries
  • 1 live stream from space

The Results

We offered young people a unique opportunity: The chance to send an experiment into space and have the world watch the results live on YouTube. For the winners, there was also the prospect of a once in a lifetime trip to Washington with a Zero-G flight, Astronaut training, and a bundle of Lenovo technology, and it’s easy to see why this was an extraordinary competition. With the support of Space Agencies and Educators around the world, YouTube was able to reach out and inspire a whole new generation of Space enthusiasts and reconnect them with the endless possibilities that lie out in Space. Watch the YouTube Space Lab Live Stream: goo.gl/BEIeC

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