MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1998, President Clinton denied having an affair with a former White House intern, saying "I did not have sexual relations
with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Denial of the affair lead to Clinton being only the second president to be impeached in US history. 
.

 
ED DONAHUE
    
    
    

Space Shuttle Columbia’s last Launch.     
     
 

The Columbia’s 28th space mission, designated STS-107, was originally
scheduled to launch on January 11, 2001, but was delayed numerous
times for a variety of reasons over nearly two years. Columbia finally
launched on January 16, 2003, with a crew of seven.

Eighty seconds into the launch, a piece of foam insulation broke off
from the shuttle’s propellant tank and hit the edge of the shuttle’s
left wing.

When Columbia re-entered the earth’s atmosphere on the morning of
February 1, 2003, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to
penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure,
which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.

The first debris began falling to the ground in West Texas near Lubbock
at 8:58 a.m. One minute later, the last communication from the crew of
five men and two women was heard, and at 9 a.m. the space shuttle
disintegrated over northeast Texas, near Dallas.  
     
     
    

      
        
                      
     
    
   
       
 
Crewmember helmet found in a field after the space shuttle Columbia 
disaster.

ROSS SIMPSON

Charles Robert Darwin ( February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1832)

On this day in 1831, English naturlist Charles Darwin set out on a
voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. His discoveries
during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on
evolution.

HMS Beagle, a 10-gun, Cherokee-class brig sloop of the Royal
Navy’s survey service, sets sail from Plymouth, England on its
second voyage as a survey vessel. On board, at the invitation
of Beagle captain Robert FitzRoy, is a young biologist called
Charles Darwin.

ROSS SIMPSON

Steven Allan Spielberg is 73  years old today.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg is considered one of the founding
pioneers of the New Hollywood era and one of the most popular
directors and producers in film history. He started in Hollywood
directing television and several minor theatrical releases,
becoming a household name as the director of Jaws (1975).  

SHIRLEY SMITH

Thomas A. Edison announced he had devised a method to record
sound with the invention of his phonograph on this day in 1877. It ushered in a new era of music and spoken word.