I'm USA TODAY editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll, and this is The Backstory, insights into our biggest stories of the week. If you'd like to get The Backstory in your inbox every week, sign up here.
In 1970, newspaper publisher Al Neuharth, who would later start USA TODAY, had a big idea. He wanted his paper in Florida, then called TODAY, to be the first newspaper on the moon.
NASA was prepping for the Apollo 14 lunar mission, and Neuharth wanted his Space Coast paper, now called FLORIDA TODAY, to be on board.
He went to James Webb, former head of NASA, who was then a director of Gannett, the parent company of what is now the USA TODAY Network.