There are many ways to celebrate man’s first walk on the moon, which took place almost exactly 45 years ago on July 20, 1969. General Electric is marking the occasion with some very special high-top sneakers.
Although they look more like something Michael Jackson would have moonwalked in than footwear suitable for space travel, the sneakers are actually pretty high-tech. According to GE, the shoes are partially made of the same carbon fiber that’s used for jet engine components, and their ”hydrophobic coating” is similar to the material that keeps wind turbine blades ice-free. GE and the sneaker company Android Homme will only make 100 pairs, to be sold on the website JackThreads on Sunday.
And GE has roped in a pretty high-level celebrity promotion for these kicks. At 3pm today, space travel enthusiasts can talk with the moon walker Buzz Aldrin, via General Electric’s Snapchat account:
Aldrin, a retired astronaut who considers himself “a global statesman for space,” has been active on social media to celebrate the anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the moon, taking to Twitter and starring in YouTube videos featuring celebrities such as JJ Abrams and Tom Hanks, in which he asks people to remember where they were during the moon landing. (Stephen Colbert can’t.)
Perhaps Pharrell Williams—who wasn’t alive during the landing but knows a thing or two about fancy sneakers—best summarized our fascination with the mission in his video with Aldrin: ”Walking on the moon is, literally, walking on the moon.”
