So as soon as I start thinking about doing a "space race" topic for my second writing assignment next fall I discover that July 20, 2009 is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
Sounds like a sign if I've ever heard one.
All sorts of information is popping up. People are digging up news articles and re-publishing them on the internet -- Barnes & Noble is selling a reprinted edition of the NYTimes front section from July 20, 1969 -- there's films, books, memoirs, and then there's this site: we choose the moon.
At wechoosethemoon.org you can listen "live" to the audio transmissions between Apollo 11 and ground control. And by "live" we mean that it's in real time ... just precisely 40 years later.
Every time you tune in between now and July 20 you can hear that stage of the mission. As I'm typing the crew is on sleep orders so it's not very interesting but they've gotta wake up sometime! Once they "land" and come back the site will allow you to go through their audio and visual files as well as their films at your leisure.
