The wreckage of Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane
(top/bottom) on May 1, 1960.

An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was
shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union.

The incident derailed an important summit meeting between
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month.   
     

After being shot down, Powers (right) appeared in the dock
of the Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. and was tried by the
Soviet Military Board on August 19, 1960.

Francis Gary Powers holds a model of a U-2 spy plane as he testifies before the U.S.  Senate Armed Services Committee
after his release from Soviet prison in march 1962.

Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977)

Powers was piloting a helicopter for Los Angeles TV station
KNBC Channel 4 over the San Fernando Valley on August 1,
1977, when the aircraft crashed, killing him and his cameraman
George Spears.

Czar Alexander II, the ruler of Russia since 1855, was killed in the
streets of St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary “People’s Will” group. The People’s Will, organized
in 1879, employed terrorism and assassination in their attempt to overthrow Russia’s czarist autocracy. They murdered officials
and made several attempts on the czar’s life before finally
assassinating him on March 13, 1881.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Port Arthur, the Russian naval
base in China, fell to Japanese naval forces under Admiral
Heihachiro Togo. It was the first in a series of defeats that by
June turned the tide of the imperial conflict irrevocably against
Russia.

In February 1904, following a Russian rejection of a Japanese plan
to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, Japan
launched a surprise naval attack on Port Arthur, decimating the
Russian fleet. In the subsequent fighting, Japan won a series of
decisive victories over the Russians, who underestimated the
military potential of its non-Western opponent.

Surrender of the Russian defenders to the Japanese after the Siege of Port Arthur, Russo-Japanese War.

In a surprisingly low-key and carefully worded statement, President
Harry S. Truman (above) informed the American people that the
Soviets exploded a nuclear bomb. The Soviet accomplishment,
years ahead of what was thought possible by most U.S. officials,
caused a panic in the American government. 

The United States developed the atomic bomb during the latter
stages of World War II and dropped two bombs on Japan in August
1945.

SANDY KOZEL

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in
1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope,
but it is one of the largest and most versatile, renowned both as a
vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy.

The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble
(below) and is one of NASA’s Great Observatories.

Edwin Powell Hubble
(November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953)