We Choose the Moon (www.wechoosethemoon.org)
© 2009 John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
A prime example of bringing history to life, We Choose the Moon (www.wechoosethemoon.org) is a real-time reenactment of the Apollo 11 mission, from take off to the start of the return to Earth. The site is named from a phrase from a speech by John F. Kennedy, in which he challenged our country to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. The site is divided into 11 stages, starting with the blastoff. At each stage, you can witness the events in realtime, as indicated by a flight clock shown on the left side of the screen. As the events pass, you can hear the real audio stream, with the transmissions between mission control and the spacecraft, you can see the transmission stream in more contemporary terms -- as a Twitter stream. At any point, you can click on a hot spot to see photographs or videos, or jump to a different stage. These include both the ground perspective as well as photos and movies taken by the astronauts At the end of the journey, you can print out a certificate of completion. This is an ideal site to bookmark, either in or out of the classroom, and you certainly can't complain about the price ($free). See also www.google.com/moon. The site is joint collaboration of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, NASA, and AOL. Note that you'll want to make sure your browser has the latest version of Flash. Visit www.wechoosethemoon.org or watch https://youtu.be/rOsBb31R7lo to see some of the PR behind this app.
Windows, Mac OSX, Internet Site
Teaches: science, space travel, history, astronauts
CTR Rating: 98%