SANDY KOZEL

Group photo of the Mercury 7 astronauts at their first
public appearance in April 1959: Walter M. Schirra,
left, Alan B. Shepard, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Donald
K. “Deke”Slayton, John H. Glenn, M. Scott Carpenter,
and L. Gordon Cooper.           

        
        
        
       
On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) formally introduced America’s
first astronauts to the press in Washington, D.C..
   

The seven men, all military test pilots, were
carefully selected  from a group of 32
candidates to take part in Project Mercury.
 

    
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TIM MAGUIRE

The "shoe bomber," British terrorist Richard Reid (above),
attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes on
American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami on December
22, 2001, but passengers and crew subdued him, leading to
his arrest and a life sentence. 

The event that prompted worldwide airport security changes
like mandatory shoe removal.

   
    

        
        
        
        
       

The shoes Reid tried to detonate during the flight.

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright made
the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-
than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903.

National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.