Our anniversary event “80 years of Parisian, 80 headlines”
The very first issue of Le Parisien appeared on August 22, 1944, in the midst of the liberation of Paris. To celebrate this birthday, we have selected 80 historical or emblematic “headlines” of their time. Sport, news items, conquest of space, presidential elections, disappearances of stars… They tell the story of eight decades of current events. We have chosen to tell you behind the scenes. A series to discover until the end of the year.
Twenty thousand days, and almost as many editions of Le Parisien, separate us from the historic one of July 21, 1969. And yet, whoever opens these now yellowed pages instantly plunges back into the torpor of that epic night where man conquered the Moonmarking the “beginning of a new era” and even the end of “the age of the wheel”, according to Louis Lamarre’s editorial.
First words, first photo, minute by minute story of the moon landinginternational reactions, explanatory infographic: nothing has “aged” in the treatment reserved that evening by the editorial staff for an event which would undoubtedly not be treated fundamentally differently today, online coverage, obviously, aside .
A feat at 3:56… on newsstands a few hours later
Everything that makes Le Parisien strong is spread out on one and three double pages: in a resolutely educational tone although a tad exalted – but who would dare blame them –, the journalists tell the story in detail the progress of the missionwith an exceptional level of detail given the late timing of the events!
VIDEO. Man’s first step on the Moon: relive the most famous live television broadcast
Because if a morning newspaper is never as hot and good as when there is news in the evening, let us remember that this event extended well beyond the closing time: the Eagle module carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin certainly landed at 9:20 p.m. French time, but Armstrong set foot on our satellite at 3:56 a.m., in Mondovision and while the newspaper was already coming out of the rotos!
And yet, on the front page of the large format – Le Parisien came out between 1966 and 1973 in large format and as a tabloid – it is indeed the photo of Armstrong on the Moon that appears, with this headline “Armstrong walked on the Moon at 3:55 a.m. No fuss in the title — We are still far from the mythical “Kourourico!” » blocking the headlines the day after the inaugural flight Ariadne in December 1979 — but a little more emphasis in a short text saluting nothing less than “the greatest moment in the history of humanity”. And to mark the occasion: a “special” red stamp and an invitation to preserve this historic document. Of which act.
On the other one, a more daring “fan-tas-tic!” », quote attributed to Michael Collins, the third astronaut who acted as space taxi, as well as an anticipation photo suggest a closure much earlier in the night. The only point in common between the two front pages is that our astronauts share the bill with Eddy Merckx, winner of the Tour de France.
Let’s open this edition to rewind time and imagine what must have been quite an editorial puzzle. An editorial full of enthusiasm hails the very first “human connection established between our world and other planets”, and defends the style considered at the time a little too sober of the astronauts who performed the feat: “ Let us not be surprised by their silence. It is quite simply that of test pilots confronting a machine whose perfidies they are unaware of. »
Then several stories follow one another, relating “minute by minute”, in the manner of the “live feeds” that we publish today on our site, the three main phases of the operation. The first, only present in the large format, is the one, added in the middle of the night, of the famous “great leap for humanity” by Neil Armstrong. And yet, no mention of his formula which subsequently entered into posterity: instead, another choice: “3:55 a.m.: Armstrong declares: I feel the ground with the tip of my toe, it is very firm, my foot leaves no imprint, it looks like coal. Easier here than in the simulators. No problem walking. »
Stories, decryptions, images
The second story, present in both formulas, is devoted to the moon landing, a few hours earlier. The endless waiting and deliverance, by Buzz Aldrin : “Here, base of Tranquility. Eagle has landed. » You can almost hear the applause at the control center in Houston (Texas). A third story, which we imagine written earlier in the day, goes back to the evening before, to relate the final phase of the lunar approach.
Around these three blocks, pure Parisian: an infographic to understand the different gestures of the astronauts, a collection of the exceptional devices put in place around the world to follow the event, and a very interesting little paper explaining to viewers why the he moon landing was not filmed: the astronauts had, in short, other things to do. Also tasty to reread is the TV program, punctuated with back and forth to the Apollo mission, and the daily horoscope of the three American astronauts – “Go to your appointments” for Armstrong, “Ask others to guide you” for Aldrin, and “Good day to meet the expert you need” for Collins.
Unsurprisingly, Le Parisien will do it again the next day with a front page announcing in the conditional. “There would be water on the Moon”, even daring “90% chance that there is life”, and recounting the two hours of wandering of the astronauts on our satellite, as well as the mysterious disappearance, at the same time, from the Soviet Luna 15 probe — Cold War atmosphere. We will also note a small “legal point of view” devoted to the nationality of the Moon, once again very much in the DNA of the Parisian…
From Gagarin to Pesquet, The ever-present Parisian
We close these historic editions with this impression that the editorial staff of Le Parisien did, these few magical days in the summer of 1969, what it has always done best: adapt, transform itself to rise to the height of ‘exceptional news – we can easily imagine that many columnists who have never covered scientific subjects have tackled it.
Space exploration has never been a regular column in Le Parisien, but our newspaper has always been able to step up to the plate during the major dates of this epic unlike any other. Yuri Gagarin occupied the entire front page and three inside pages on April 13, 1961, the day after his historic flight. Jean-Loup Chrétien was also in the spotlight on June 25, 1982, the day after a successful takeoff making him the first Frenchman, and even the first Western European, in space.
More recently, the flights of Thomas Pesquet, the incredible Rosetta mission or even the takeoff of the Perseverance mission towards March in February 2021 were widely covered by our newspaper. Subjects always treated with breath, passion but also pedagogy. At Le Parisien, the Space is always at human height.
