The "Telstar" communications satellite (above) sent the first live television broadcast to Europe.
The first public images beamed from New York to the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall (above) on July 23 should have been of President John F Kennedy, but because of a delay in the United States viewers were first treated to footage of a baseball game which was being shown on US television. The satellite was used for several television demonstrations before going out of service on February 21 the following year.
Control staff at the British Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall.
On this day in 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. became the first men to walk on the moon.
Neil Alden Armstrong Buzz Aldrin (Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.)
On this day in 1976, America’s Viking I robot spacecraft made a successful landing on Mars.
A Viking lander being tested in the Mojave Desert prior to launch.
On this day in 1944, Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler cheats death as a bomb planted in a briefcase goes off, but fails to kill him. Hitler (second from left) Shows Mussolini the Destroyed Barracks at "The Wolfschanze" shortly after the assassination attempt.
Mountaineer Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (July 20, 1919 – January 11, 2008)
Musician Carlos Santana is 71 years old today.
Guitarist Carlos Santana blended rock with Latin American music and fronted Santana. He won the Best Rock Album and the Album of the Year Grammys for Supernatural, two of the eight total Grammys he won in 2000.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), the official United States policy on gays serving in the military was announced by President Bill Clinton (below). It allowed closeted members of the military to serve, while prohibiting those in the military who were openly gay to serve. Prior to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” there had been an outright ban on gays in the military.
Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit on this day in 1969.
Daedalus Crater was one of the sights seen as Apollo 11’s command module passed over the far side of the moon.
Baseball’s career hit leader Pete Rose (left) was sentenced on this day in 1990 to five months in a Federal correctional institution for filing false income-tax returns. The sentence did not permit parole, so Rose would serve the full term.
Peter Edward Rose Sr. also known by his nickname "Charlie Hustle", turned 77 on April 14.
A total 55 countries joined the boycott of the opening ceremony in Moscow which began on this day in 1980.
A drawing of the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
The room in the Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, where the Russian royal family was brutally murdered.
Disneyland opened in Anaheim, CA. on this day in 1955.
Disneyland theme park is now divided into 8 extravagantly themed lands: Main Street, U.S.A., Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Mickey’s Toontown, Frontierland, Critter Country, New Orleans Square and Adventureland.
Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)
Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza resigned and fled to Miami, Florida in exile on this day in 1979.
Somoza talks to the press after fleeing to safety in Miami.
An Apollo spaceship (left) docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit on this day in 1975. It was the first link up between the U.S. and Soviet Union.
It was on this day in 1961.
Coltrane’s first recordings were made when he was a sailor.
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967)
John Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, also known as "Trane". Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career,Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was later at the forefront of free jazz. He died of liver cancer at a Hospital in New York on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40.
On this day in 1945, the United States detonated the first atomic bomb in a test at Alamogordo, NM.
On this day in 1973, Alexander P. Butterfield informed the Senate committee investigating the Watergate affair of the existence of President Nixon’s recorded White House tapes.
Alexander Porter Butterfield testifying before the Senate committee.
It was on this day in 1999.
On this day in 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, FL, and began the first manned mission to land on the moon.
The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew, from left to right, Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.
After a highly publicized six-week jury trial, Martha Stewart was found guilty in March 2004 of felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to the federal investigators, and was sentenced July 16, 2004 to serve a five-month term in a federal correctional facility and supervised release for a two-year period (to include five months of electronic monitoring)
Inmates sit in their bunks at a women’s prison in Alabama.
