SANDY KOZEL

(AP)

At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle
Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and
Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first
ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. McAuliffe, a
37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New
Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place
among the seven-member crew of the Challenger.

Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground,
including Christa’s family, stared in disbelief as the
shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire.

The crew of the Challenger space shuttle. Front row,
from left to right, shows astronauts Mike Smith, Dick
Scobee, Ron McNair and in the rear row, from left to
right, are Ellison Onizuka, school teacher Christa
McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judith Resnik. (NASA) 

ROSS SIMPSON

James Wilson Marshall
(October 8, 1810 – August 10, 1885)

The caption with this photo at the Library of Congress
claims that this was Marshall in front of the mill in 1850.

On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill on
the American River in Northern California. After James W.
Marshall, who’d been overseeing the sawmill’s construction,
found the gold nuggets he and his boss, John Sutter,
attempted to keep

the discovery a secret. However, word soon spread and by
1849 thousands of prospectors, who became known as 49ers,
were flocking to Coloma, California, site of Sutter’s Mill, and
the surrounding region, hoping to strike it rich.

   
James Marshall’s cabin.

   

    
    
    
   
John Augustus Sutter
(February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880)

The spot where Marshall first discovered the gold that
started the California Gold Rush.

Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., who
reimagined the potential of human achievement before a
worldwide audience when he walked on the moon, was
born on this day in history, Jan. 20, 1930.

"The sky is not the limit … There are footprints on the
Moon!" the explorer enthused in his 2016 book, "No
Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who
Walked on the Moon." The second person to walk on
the Moon is 94 years old today.

Aldrin saluting the Lunar Flag Assembly.

With a career spanning over fifty years, Dolly Parton has been
described as a "country music legend" and has sold more than
100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-
selling artists of all time.         

       
She has received 11 Grammy Awards out of 50 nominations,
including the Lifetime Achievement Award; ten Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year and is
one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music
Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award; five Academy
of Country Music Awards, also including Entertainer of the
Year; four People’s Choice Awards; and three American
Music Awards.

Dolly with Porter Wagoner.

Benjamin Franklin  (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)

Benjamin Franklin, scientist, philosopher, author and the
most celebrated American on both sides of the Atlantic
Ocean in the era of revolution, was born on this day in
history, Jan. 17, 1706. 

The Founding Father’s bust and the words "Birthplace of
Franklin" mark the site at 17 Milk St. in downtown Boston
today. 

Benjamin Franklin statue at old Massachusetts
State house in Boston.