At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission, 
was launched on a historic journey to the surface of the moon.

After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into
a lunar orbit on July 19.

The Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander;
Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin,
lunar module pilot.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

On July 11, 1914, in his major league debut, George Herman “Babe” Ruth pitches seven strong innings to lead the
Boston Red Sox over the Cleveland Indians, now known
as the Cleveland Guardians), 4-3.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth
(February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948)

    6-25-1997

On this day in history, June 24, 1997, the U.S. Air Force released
a 232-page report titled "The Roswell Report: Case Closed,"
about a mysterious incident near Roswell, New Mexico, that
some believe was a UFO crash-landing on Earth.

The report was the second part of the government’s official
disclosure about what was found in rural New Mexico in the
1940s. Back in 1994, the government published, "The Roswell
Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert."

"The ‘Roswell Incident’ has assumed a central place in American
folklore since the events of the 1940s in a remote area of New
Mexico," noted the foreword of the 1997 report, written by
Secretary of the Air Force Sheila A. Widnall (below).         
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
Sheila Marie Evans Widnall

On June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel into space. After
48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to earth, having spent more
time in space than all U.S. astronauts combined to that date.

Before her selection for the Soviet space program, Tereshkova
was a textile factory. She joined  the Air Force as part of the
Cosmonaut Corps and was commissioned as an officer after
completing her training.   

On May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an
intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster
Star Wars movies hit  American theaters.

The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars,
and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of
close to $800 million worldwide–began with an extensive,
coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th
Century Fox, months before the movie’s release date. “It
wasn’t like a movie opening,” actress Carrie Fisher, who
played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine.
“It was like an earthquake.” Beginning with–in Fisher’s words–
“a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping
bags,” the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching
experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of
movie theaters across the country and around the world.