About a month ago, I wrote a blog about WeChooseTheMoon.org, a site by AOL, NASA, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation that invites users to experience a real-time visual and audio re-creation of the Apollo 11 mission. Well, the event starts in less than 24 hours, but there’s still time to sign up to get e-mail updates as the mission proceeds.
AOL offered Astronomy a chance to preview the mission before it goes live at 8:02 a.m. EDT and launches at 9:32 a.m. July 16 (the exact minute 40 years ago that Apollo 11 launched). The site divides the journey into 11 stages, with the first six occurring less than 5 hours after launch. As each stage becomes available on the Mission Tracker, visitors have the opportunity to browse new images and videos related to that point in the mission (including looks back at previous Apollo missions, drawings of equipment, and pictures from preflight testing). Intricate animations provide a visual of what’s happening during each phase of the journey, and live audio transmissions add to the authenticity.
After the first six stages, there’s a break until July 19, when Apollo 11 reaches lunar orbit in stage seven. The final stage occurs exactly 40 years after Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the Moon at 4:17 p.m. EDT July 20. You can explore the lunar surface through videos and images and then return to Earth with a slideshow of photos from the post-Apollo 11 mission celebrations.
In total, the site offers 400 NASA photographs, 44 archival videos, and more than 109 hours of streaming audio transmissions. You could spend hours exploring all the information, but you don’t have to worry about getting through everything within the mission period. After the 4-day real-time journey, the site will become a self-guided tour that visitors can explore at their leisure.
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