Paul Santoro

**Paul Santoro** was a reporter for *Newsweek* at the time of the first Moon landing in 1969. After talking to Ed Baldwin, he wrote an article about NASA and the missed opportunity to land first, quoting Ed that NASA would not have guts anymore. The article lead to a turmoil at NASA and Ed being reassigned to the Apollo Applications ProjectW and taken off from Apollo 15.

## History

After the Soviets had beaten the US in the Moon race and successfully landed Alexei Leonov on the lunar surface on June 26, 1969, Deke Slayton, Chief of Astronaut Office, cancelled all trainings for Friday, sent all astronauts home, and suggested they should "go out, get drunk, kick your dog, gnash your teeth, howl at the Moon, or do whatever suits your purpose", because now it would be the time to be pissed. The astronauts left the Manned Spacecraft Center and raced to the Outpost Tavern, the unofficial watering hole for many NASA employees close to the center.

While everybody was drinking and playing games, *Newsweek* reporter Paul Santoro entered the bar, obviously well known by everybody, walked around, greeted and talked to many of the astronauts, payed them another round and asked for any comments about the Soviet landing and the lost race. He also approached Ed who was sitting at the bar with Gordo Stevens and asked them for any thoughts from the Apollo 10 crew, as they were so close the month before. He said that it must hurt being so close and then be ordered to return, but Ed answered that this was their mission as it was a practice run. Santoro insisted, asking if they don't think it was a missed opportunity, but Ed and Gordo stayed by their words that landing was never in the mission plan. When Gordo left for the toilet, Santoro sat down beside Ed and continued arguing, asking Ed why they didn't have the guts to let them land. At some point, Ed started to concede, telling Paul that they used to be like that during MercuryW and GeminiW, but that these times were over. He told him that he's right and that NASA would not have guts anymore since the Apollo 1W fire. He criticized the change of the whole culture of flight tests because some good men died, because this would just be part of the game and every test pilot would have always known that risk. But they had stopped taking risks at NASA, and that's why they lost the Moon. Santoro said thanks and left.

3 days later, on June 30, the *Newsweek* article was published. 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."* He told Ed that he's deeply in the shit now and that Wernher von Braun wanted to remove him from the Apollo program completely. Deke didn't let him go that far but reassigned Ed to the Apollo Applications ProjectW, which Ed called "Syberia with a desk".

## Gallery

Paul Santoro entering the OutpostChatting with the astronautsPaul approaching Ed & GordoPaul & Ed talking*Newsweek'*s cover
## Behind the scenes

The real Newsweek covers of that time
1969-07-071969-07-211969-07-281969-08-11
## Notes

1. ↑ There is a discrepancy with the date of the *Newsweek* edition lying on Deke's desk (see image in gallery above).

The edition is dated "July 29, 1969", which is not possible as that episode (1x01) ends on July 20 with Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. It could have been meant to be "June 29" instead of July, however that would be a Sunday. More likely, it should be "June 30", which would correspond with the real life release day of *Newsweek* during that era, Mondays, and would also fit best into the episode's time flow.
In the episode's timeline, Deke's presentation of the article to Ed seemingly happened on July 1, after June 30 (dead of Aleida's mother, seen at 24:32) but before July 2 (14 days to Apollo 11 launch, seen at 34:52 and said at 37:26).

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 1, Episode 1: "Red Moon"