Man on the moon: 40th anniversary special

Jul 19 2009 by Michael Kelly, Sunday Sun

THE Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, was one small step for man and one giant leap of faith for the Sunday Sun, which is believed to have been the first newspaper in the world to report the story. With the 40th anniversary of the historic event tomorrow, Mike Kelly reveals how we managed to achieve our “out of this world exclusive”.

ON Saturday July 19, 1969, then Sunday Sun editor Norman Batey and his staff discussed the imminent moon landing and the paper’s coverage of it.

If it went according to NASA’s plans, the landing would take place the following evening around 8pm, frustratingly long after the usual deadline for the paper.

It seemed the first newspaper reports of the landing would appear in the Monday papers, July 21 . . . the day after the historic event.

Then Norman had a brainwave. Described as an experienced and meticulous journalist by those who worked with him, he saw a unique window of opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime scoop for the Sunday Sun.

If it was to put out a special edition to coincide with the landing on Sunday night, it could lay claim to being the first in the world to publish the report.

A first edition with a holding article headlined “The Moon is Just One Step Away” was published on Sunday morning. The presses were held open and a second, special edition was prepared with the bold, simple headline “Man Is On The Moon” on the Sunday.

And they waited.

The Apollo programme up to this point had not been without tragedy, and a successful landing was by no means a foregone conclusion.

As the world held its breath and watched history unfold on TV, staff at the Sunday Sun also waited for their chance to create a little history themselves.

At 8.17pm, the lunar module touched down and, soon afterwards, the Sunday Sun hit the streets. It is not known how many people bought the paper for a bargain 7d, but whoever did has quite a collector’s item.

The Sunday Sun was not only the first paper in Britain to publish on the actual day of the moon landing . . . it appears to have been the first in the world because, as far as we can work out, no other paper had the same idea to run a special edition.