Newsweek

***Newsweek*** is an American weekly news magazine founded in 1933.

## History

On June 28, 1969, the day after the Soviet Union had successfully landed the first man on the Moon, NASA's chief astronaut, Deke Slayton, called all astronauts for a meeting at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston where he told them, that everything would continue as planned for now, but first it would be time to be pissed. He cancelled all training evolutions for the day and sent them all home, to go and get drunk or do whatever would suit them to blow off some steam. Monday morning, after the weekend, they would continue to work.

The astronauts all raced to the nearby Outpost Tavern, where they started to drown their frustration in beers. While they were all drinking and playing games, *Newsweek* reporter Paul Santoro entered the bar, well known by everybody. He occasionally approached Ed Baldwin and Gordo Stevens who were sitting at the bar playing cards, and asked them what they thought abaut it, after they had been so close to the Moon's surface during the Apollo 10 mission last month as nobody else was ever before. Although Ed and Gordo didn't really want to comment on this, Santoro insisted and while Gordo went to the bathroom, he asked Ed why NASA did not have the guts to let them land. After a while, Ed reponded and admited that he was right and that NASA would not have guts anymore. They would have stopped taking risks after the Apollo 1 disaster, and that was why they lost the Moon.

The story was the lead article in the following week's *Newsweek* edition. Deke quoted from the magazine: *"We were right there. So close that you could have reach out and grab a handful of moondust. All it would have taken is have some guts. But we don't have guts at NASA anymore, that's why we didn't beat the Soviets to the Moon."* Ed was demoted to the Apollo Applications ProjectW, which Ed called "Syberia with a desk", but Deke said that he was still lucky as Director Wernher von Braun wanted him to be removed from the program completely.

On December 9, 1974, *Newsweek's* main story was the return of Gordo Stevens and Danielle Poole after their prolonged stay at Jamestown due to the Apollo 23 explosion in August of that year. They titled "The Heroes Return", not knowing that the real hero was Danielle who deliberately broke her arm so they had a reason to bring back Gordo, who was suffering from mental issues due to the long time in isolation.

The issue of 26 March 1986 was all about Mikhail Gorbachev, titled with "New Soviet Boss".

## Gallery

Deke Slayton quoting from Ed's *Newsweek* story*Newsweek* issue after the Soviet landing, including Ed's storyClose-up of the *Newsweek* cover*Newsweek* cover 1974, after Gordo's and Danielle's return to EarthNew Soviet Boss, 26 March 1986
## Behind the scenes

The real *Newsweek* covers during the Apollo 11 era

1969-07-071969-07-211969-07-281969-08-11
## See also

* *Houston Sentinel*
* List of print media
* News and Media (category)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 1, Episode 1: "Red Moon"
2. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 1, Episode 8: "Rupture"
3. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 1, Episode 7: "Hi Bob"
4. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 1: "Polaris"