A screenshot of the Apollo 11 pre-launch from WeChoosetheMoon.org.

As NASA prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, viewers who missed the original black-and-white television transmission will be able to watch the entire four-day mission in real time thanks to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library's virtual re-creation of the event, We Choose the Moon.

The campaign website went live at 9:32 am EST this morning, 40 years to the minute after the original Apollo 11 astronauts blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 16, 1969. The interactive experience will end on 4:17 pm EST on Monday, July 20 - the date when the Eagle landed on the lunar surface.

Conceived by The Martin Agency and produced by interactive company Domani Studios, We Choose the Moon makes uses of 400 photos, 44 archival videos, more than 100 hours of audio transmissions and declassified documents from NASA and the Kennedy Library. Interactive animations will highlight 11 key moments of the mission and Twitter users can also receive real-time updates via four different feeds.

The campaign takes its name from a speech President Kennedy gave in 1962 in which he said "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

To find out if the We Choose the Moon campaign was as hard as the original mission, we spoke with The Martin Agency creative director Joe Alexander, art director Brian Williams and copywriter Wade Alger.

What is the cultural significance of the Apollo 11 mission?
Joe Alexander: The Space Race was JFK's way to "rally the troops." To get a country that had fallen into a malaise during the Eisenhower era to re-energize, focus and shoot for a greater good. Obviously, it had some very practical applications as well: militarily, politically and economically. But JFK really wanted to show that democracy, not communism, was the best way to achieve the most important things facing mankind.

What was the client brief and how did the idea to do a real-time re-creation evolve?
JA: The brief was simple: celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. Do it in a surprising, newsworthy way.

Brian Williams: Once Wade and I began our research for this assignment, we became increasingly amazed at the details we uncovered about the Apollo program: the origins of the space program, the manpower it took to get men on the moon, the realities of late-60s space travel. It very quickly became a dream of ours to help the public experience the mission in a rich, modern way. All the design decisions involved in the creation of the site flowed from that basic excitement we felt from looking through archival photos, listening to audio transmissions, and learning about JFK's passion for the space program.

Wade Alger: When reading the transcript provided by NASA it was like reading a book you knew the ending to, but you couldn't help be fixated on every word and nuance. Far beyond just putting a man on the moon it captured the energy and excitement that must have been felt in July of 1969.

Why name the campaign "We Choose the Moon"? How has the meaning of the "we" as spoken in JFK's original speech changed since the 1960s?
JA: We took the URL name right from JFK's Rice speech in 1962. "We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard..." Back then, JFK was speaking to a nation - that was the "we." With the global reach of the web, the "we" now maybe takes on a much less insular meaning and more of shared goal. "We" - all of us - can share this trip thanks to the web, Twitter, Facebook, email, etc.

How precise will the re-enactment be and how will you ensure the Tweets and site updates go off on time? What tools or software are you using to pull it off?
BW: NASA was kind enough to give us the recently digitized complete audio transmissions between Houston and the astronauts and we will be re-broadcasting that audio "live," uninterrupted over the four-day mission, 40 years to the minute after it was originally broadcast. We also pulled out roughly 650 of the most interesting and relevant pieces of conversation to be tweeted out over Twitter in tandem with the audio. The animation that depicts the 11 significant mission moments will happen in time with the audio, but some have been condensed for time. However the proportions of the Earth, moon and spacecraft as well as the actions of the spacecraft have been kept accurate so visitors will get a good sense of the realities of the mission.

Who will be updating the two Twitter feeds?
BW: The tweets will be fed out via a custom application to ensure they are issued precisely 40 years after they were said, down to the second. Unlike an intern, you don't have to bribe an app to stay up for four straight days tweeting on schedule.

In what ways can viewers interact? Will the various Twitter feeds tweet back?
WA: Our idea was to rebroadcast the words of the astronauts as if Twitter had been available back then, adding another way for visitors to follow the mission as it unfolds. Not everyone has heard the entire audio transmission and there are some really special human moments in there that make the journey that much more special. The Twitter feed enables you to experience these without having to keep your browser window open. When you hear [Apollo 11 astronauts] Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins interacting on a more human and real level (like betting cups of coffee with CAPCOM), it's just nice and adds another layer of texture to the site. The various feeds will not tweet back as they only contain the actual words of the original astronauts and we didn't want to add to or alter them in any way. Hopefully there's something nice being invited into a deeper part of the real mission and keeping it pure.

What are the 11 stages to the re-enactment?
BW: Pre-launch, launch, Earth orbit begins, leaving Earth's orbit, command service module (CSM) separates, command service module ignites (begins the three day "coast" to the moon), lunar orbit begins, lunar module (LEM) separates from the CSM, LEM descends to the moon, LEM detour (they change course upon discovering their proposed landing site is a boulder field), and landing. Following that we have a Return to Earth epilogue, which is the story of their journey back to earth, capsule splashdown and subsequent quarantine and tickertape parades told in archival photos.

In the years after the moon landing, governmental and public support in the space program waned. What kind of effect do you hope this campaign will have on the public's interest in the space program?
JA: We don't expect or have any goals to change space policy for the country. But maybe through awareness of the mission and participation in the site online, some kid will become more interested in science, space and technology. That would be cool.

Did you watch the moon landing in 1969?
JA: I am the only one on the team old enough to have been there in 1969. I remember being on a family vacation in northern Minnesota and my dad tuning the rabbit ears on some lake cabin TV. I'm pretty sure I probably watched for a little bit, but then grew bored and ran outside to do something more fun, like play kick-the-can under the moonlight.

www.wechoosethemoon.org
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