Web site brings 40-year-old Apollo 11 NASA mission to life

Computerworld - Were you too young to follow the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969, or was it so thrilling that you'd like to relive it all over again -- from the blastoff of the Saturn V rocket to Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon?

Well, if you fit into either category, there's a new interactive Web site for you.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum will be launching a Web site called WeChooseTheMoon.org 9:32 a.m. Eastern time on July 16 -- which is exactly 40 years to the minute after the historic launch. The Web site, which is powered by AOL, is designed to let users experience the mission as it happened with archival audio, video and photos going up in a time frame exactly coordinated with the live events 40 years ago.

"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, in a statement. "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."

NASA's Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, the mission was the fifth human space flight as part of Project Apollo and it was the third flight to the moon and back. The crew was made up of Mission Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr.

Only July 20, first Neil Armstrong and then Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step on another celestial body.

Early in the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy had set the goal of carrying out a successful U.S. moon landing before the end of the decade. The Apollo 11 mission achieved that goal.

With the WeChooseTheMoon.org site, users can sign up for "live" updates of events as they happened during the four-day mission. People also will be able to follow event updates on Twitter.

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