TIM MAGUIRE

John Wayne (Marion Robert Morrison) (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979)

ROSS SIMPSON

In New York on this day in 2002, a ceremony was held to officially
mark the end of the clean up from the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

SANDY KOZEL

Bono (Paul David Hewson) is 59 years old today.

The Irish born singer-songwriter is best known as the lead
vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2.

CARLATA BRADLEY

On this day in 2003, NASA’s space shuttle Columbia exploded while
re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board
were killed.

Helmet found in a field after the space shuttle Columbia disaster.

Memorial at the Columbia Debris Site.

During the Vietnam War on this day in 1968, South Vietnamese
National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executed a
Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head. The scene was
captured in a news photograph shown above.

Vietcong officer Nguyen Van Lem minutes prior to his execution.

MIKE  GRACIA

    

On this day in 1958, Explorer 1 became the United States’ first
satellite in space. The launch of the satellite — twice the size
of a basketball — was an important moment for the country,
as the Space Race with the Soviet Union was just beginning.

The three men responsible for the success of Explorer 1, at left is Dr. William H. Pickering, former director of JPL, which built and operated
the satellite. Dr. James A. van Allen, center, of the State University of Iowa, designed and built the instrument on Explorer that discovered
the radiation belts which circle the Earth. At right is Dr. Wernher von Braun, leader of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal team which built the
first stage Redstone rocket that launched Explorer 1.

On this day in 1945, Private Eddie Donald Slovik became the only
U.S. soldier since the American Civil War to be executed for
desertion.