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.
View Comments
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.
The Backstory: How a Florida newspaper ended up on the moon -- and then became our first NFT msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
How first American in space brought a newspaper to the moon
MARA BELLABY, Florida Today
FacebookTwitterEmail
MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) When the 363-foot Saturn V rocket ignited its five engines to send the crew of Apollo 14 including America’s first man in space, Alan Shepard on their lunar mission, something rather unusual was on board.
TODAY, founded by Al Neuharth just five years earlier, was going to the moon.
“It was a big deal but shoot, this was TODAY newspaper, we can do anything,” recalled David Baker, whose father, Buddy Baker, was TODAY’s community service director and arranged the paper’s out-of-this-world trip.
The Backstory: How a Florida newspaper ended up on the moon -- and then became our first NFT msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.