Spacelog is an absolutely stunning and fun to use interface for the transcripts of the Apollo 13 and Mercury 6 space missions. It is the best website I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t know what I enjoyed more: reading the transcripts or using the website. And not just because of its excessive use of the word “roger.” Take, for instance, the use of images.
The open source font League Gothic was an inspired choice as it echoes a font used in the original documents.
The Twitter-like display of transmissions is effective and fun. Much like the new New York Times feature, each transmission is linkable.
The site really demonstrates how visual design and a usable interface can enhance content, give it a new life, and help tell a story.
[...] All of the “roger” found in Spacelog is great and got me wondering how the word came to be used that way. I figured that using “roger” and “copy” in the sense of “I understand” were rooted in military communication. “Copy” makes sense, but “roger?” It turns out that before the NATO phonetic alphabet in which R is spoken as “Romeo” the US military used the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet in which R is “Roger.” So the shortened version of “received” was R, or “roger.” [...]