PORTLAND, Ore. — A new heat record was broken Sunday,
July 31 in Portland. The last time was 40 years ago.

The temperature bypassed 95 degrees for the seventh consecutive day.

Nichelle Nichols (Grace Dell Nichols)
(December 28, 1932 – July 30, 2022)

Actress, singer and dancer Nichelle Nichols is best
known for her portrayal of Nyota Uhura in Star Trek:
The Original Series, and its film sequels. Nichols’
portrayal was ground-breaking for African American
actresses on American television. From 1977 until
2015, Nichols volunteered her time to promote
NASA‘s programs, and to recruit diverse astronauts,
including women and ethnic minorities. Nichols died
of natural causes.

William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022)

Russell is widely considered to be one of the greatest
basketball players of all-time.

Joanne Rowling,  better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling,
is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter,
a seven-volume children’s fantasy series published from 1997
to 2007. The series has sold over 500 million copies, been
translated into at least 70 languages, and spawned a global
media franchise including films and video games. The Casual
Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes
Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, as Robert
Galbraith.

Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, took the first close-up
images of the moon—4,308 in total—before it impacts with the
lunar surface northwest of the Sea of Clouds. The images were
1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had attempted a similar mission earlier in the year—Ranger 6—but
the probe’s cameras had failed as it descended to the lunar
surface. Ranger 7, launched from Earth on July 28, successfully activated its cameras 17 minutes, or 1,300 miles, before impact
and began beaming the images back to NASA’s receiving station
in California.

An artist’s concept of NASA’s Ranger 7 approaching the
Moon.