An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale hit the San
Francisco Bay  area in California. The quake caused about 67
deaths, 3,000 injuries, and damages up to $7 billion.     


     

Sights and sounds of this day in 2001, when America suffered the worst terrorist attack on its soil.

ED DONAHUE

The world’s worst nuclear disaster to date occurred at Chernobyl, in Kiev
on this day in 1986.. Thirty-one people died in the incident and thousands
more were exposed to radioactive material.

CARLATA BRADLEY

John Glenn made space history on this day in 1962 when he orbited
the Earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first
American to do so. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury
capsule (above).

Here’s what John Glenn saw while orbiting the Earth. 

Friendship 7 capsule after splashdown.

The successful mission concluded with a splashdown and recovery
in the Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles southeast of Bermuda.

Sir Sidney Poitier is 92-years-old today.

Actor, director, and diplomat Sidney Poitier became the first
African American to win an Oscar after performing in Lilies
of the Field (1963). The films Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
(1967) To Sir, with Love (1967) and In the Heat of the Night
(1967), additionally bolstered his fame. The American Film
Institute called him one of the 25 Greatest Male Stars of All
Time in 1999.

1961

TV movie, 2001

The 9/11 memorial and ground zero today.