Tech Blog

[#1]

By now you're likely quite aware that in 1969 a couple of Americans landed on the Moon. It's ancient history -- it happened 40 years ago. Many of you weren't alive when it happened so it's a footnote in the history books, similar to WWII, the Industrial Revolution, and the printing press.

But now there's a way to (re)experience some of the excitement and magic of that time, in real time, courtesy of Twitter, our favourite social media medium.

First, point your browser at http://wechoosethemoon.org/ -- an 'edutainment' website designed by the JFK Presidential Library:

“This site represents a unique opportunity for viewers to ‘go back in time’ and experience one of mankind’s most amazing achievements,” said Tom Putnam, director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “From actual mission audio transmissions and archival video to mission factoids and news reels, visitors to WeChooseTheMoon.org will be able to track every step of the Apollo 11 mission, as it happened, 40 years later.

Now, since the re-virtual mission is already underway, you'll have access to various time-synchronized news, images and activities -- as if the mission were happening today.

The site is loaded with historical documents and images:

WeChooseTheMoon.org by the numbers

* 400 NASA photographs and 44 archival videos
* 109 hours, 24 minutes of audio transmissions streamed "as they happened"
* Approximately 700 Mission tweets featuring real-time transmission excerpts
* 102 hours, 45 minutes and 39.9 seconds of mission tracking
* 11 mission-critical events rendered in stunning animation
* 2,223 pages of declassified mission documents influence mission`s authenticity

But where this project really excels, is off the website and in the Twittersphere.  Three Twitter accounts were set up to relive communication between the ground and the two space craft.

By following these three accounts, your twitter stream will simulate, in real time, the voyage from the Earth to the Moon:

• AP11_CAPCOM - Mission Control
• AP11_EAGLE - The Lunar Excursion Vehicle
• AP11_SPACECRAFT  - The Spacecraft

There's also an Adobe Air powered desktop widget so you can monitor the action without it taking up your entire workspace.

But, while you're waiting for the moon-shot's events to (re)happen (it took three days to get to there), you can:

• check out the vast resources on the WeChooseTheMoon website
• review this amazing photo history of Apollo 11 compiled by the Boston Globe
• relax with a copy of Apollo 13
• bone up on the space program with this even more historically concise overview of the American space program: Tom Hanks' excellent From the Earth to the Moon

Whatever you do to while away the hours between launch and landing, do make sure you are online and linked into Twitter on July 20th around 2PM (MDT) to experience the landing activity as it (re)occurs. Touchdown time is/was 14:17 (MDT).

But back to the social media component for a moment. This is project is a very cool social and educational experiment. Taking the real-time radio voice communications and 'tweeting' them is a concept that's not new.

When married with the Educational and 'Cool' factors of the first lunar landing, and all the historical resources available to enhance the experience, it sure is a fun, rich, and educational way to learn more about one of the most significant 'historical footnotes' in the history of the planet.

We need more of these.

Message Edited by bgrier on 07-16-2009 02:39 PM

Message Edited by Laura on 08-21-2009 09:48 AM

Message Edited by ElizabethS on 09-10-2009 09:36 PM