MIKE GRACIA

The United States’ Space Shuttle program began as Columbia
embarked upon its first mission on this day in 1981.

Crew members from left: John W. Young and Bob Crippen.

David Michael Letterman is 70 years old today.

David Letterman worked as a weatherman for AM radio station WNTS and
anchored on Indianapolis television station WLWI.

Although he registered for the draft during the Vietnam War, he did not fight
because he received a draft lottery number 346 (out of 366).

TIM MAGUIRE

MacArthur vs. Truman: The Showdown That Changed America
on this day in 1951.

It was on this day in 1814.

             Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821) 

Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as
rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces
seized control on this day in 1979.

On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 blasted off on a mission
to the moon that was disrupted when an explosion
crippled the spacecraft. The astronauts did return
safely.

The Apollo 13 lunar landing mission crew: Commander James A.
Lovell Jr. (from left), Command Module pilot John L. Swigert Jr.
and Lunar Module pilot Fred W. Haise Jr.                                  (NASA)

The liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald was
on this day in 1945.

SANDY KOZEL

It was on this day in 2003.

Iraqis kick at the toppled statue of Saddam Hussein.

America’s first seven astronauts are announced to the world
during a NASA press conference held on this day in 1959.   

The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles was
on this day in 2005.

Mariner 10 was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on November 3,
1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. The spacecraft flew past
Mercury three times with the first encounter taking place on March 29,
1974 (below). Mariner 10 was deactivated March 24, 1975.

Mercury in black and white.

Artists’ impression of the Mariner 10 mission.

SANDY KOZEL

Russian cosmonaut Alexey Leonov became the first man to
conduct a spacewalk in 1965.

The staff at the Pinellas Park hospice facility disconnected the
feeding tube on March 18, 2005, and Schiavo died on March 31,
2005.

John Edmund Andrew Phillips
(August 30, 1935 – March 18, 2001)

Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of
the vocal group The Mamas & the Papas.