John Glenn made space history on this day in 1962 when he orbited the world three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes. He became the first American to orbit the Earth. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule. Glenn witnessed the Devil’s Cigarette Lighter while in flight.
In West Warwick, RI on this day in 2003, 100 people were killed and more than 230 were injured when fire destroyed the nightclub, The Station. The fire started with sparks from a pyrotechnic display being used by Jack Russel’s Great White. Ty Longley, guitarist for the band, was one of the victims in the fire.
American Tara Lipinski, at age 15, became the youngest gold medalist in winter Olympics history when she won the ladies’ figure skating title at Nagano, Japan on this day in 1998.
Buddy Holly (22), Ritchie Valens (17), the Big Bopper (28) and pilot Roger Peterson died in a plane crash in Iowa on this day in 1959.
Crash site memorial north of Clear Lake, Iowa.
The first rocket-assisted controlled landing on the Moon was made by the Soviet space vehicle Luna 9 (above) on this day in 1966.
Eileen Marie Collins is a retired NASAastronaut and a retired United States Air Forcecolonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle on this day in 1995 aboard STS-63. She was awarded several medals for her work. She has logged 38 days 8 hours and 20 minutes in outer space. Collins retired onMay 1, 2006, to pursue privateinterests.
On this day in 2003, Phillip Harvey Spector became notorious for the murder of the actress Lana Clarkson (below). He was convicted of murder in second degree.
Recently released prison mugshots of Phil Spector (AP).
Hundreds of people were feared drowned in the Red Sea on this day in 2006 after an Egyptian ferry carrying 1,400 passengers and crew sank in rough weather in one of the worst shipping disasters in the world. Rescuers found at least 200 survivors in lifeboats and were brought ashore.
Norman Percevel Rockwell(February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978)
Norman Rockwell was a 20th-century American author, painter and illustrator whose works have a broad popular appeal in the U.S. for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations that depict everyday life he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over nearly five decades.
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847)
Explorer I was put into orbit around the earth on this day in 1958. It was the first U.S. earth satellite.
From left: William Picketing, James Van Allen, and German scientist Wernher von Braun hold a model of Explorer 1.
On this day in 2001, a Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan )above) and acquitted a second in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that occurred in 1988.
On this day in 1945, Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
Norman Kingsley Mailer(January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007)
Norman Mailer was a novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film-maker, actor, and political activist. His novel The Naked and the Dead, published in 1948 brought him fame. His best-known work is widely considered to be The Executioner’s Song (1979) winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and Armies of the Night won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and the National Book Award.
Franz Peter Schubert(January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828)
Austrian composer was extremely prolific during his lifetime, which was only 31 years. His work consists of over 600 secular vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large amount of chamber and piano music. Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the late Classical and early Romantic eras and is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early 19th century.
Franz Schubert at the piano by Rudolf Klingsbögl.