ROSS SIMPSON
On this day in 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, FL,
and began the first manned mission to land on the moon.
Nasa astronauts from left: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.
On this day in 1997, U.S. Air Force officials release a 231-page report
dismissing long-standing claims of an alien spacecraft crash in Roswell,
New Mexico, almost exactly 50 years earlier.
Public interest in Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs, began to flourish
in the 1940s, when developments in space travel and the dawn of the
atomic age caused many Americans to turn their attention to the skies.
The town of Roswell, located near the Pecos River in southeastern New
Mexico, became a magnet for UFO believers due to the strange events of
early July 1947, when ranch foreman W.W. Brazel found a strange, shiny
material scattered over some of his land. He turned the material over to
the sheriff, who passed it on to authorities at the nearby Air Force base.
On July 8, Air Force officials announced they had recovered the wreckage
of a “flying disk.” A local newspaper put the story on its front page,
launching Roswell into the spotlight of the public’s UFO fascination.
ED DANAHUE
On this day in 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor.
It was on this day in 1959.
On this day in 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah.
Brigham Young
(June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877)
The Apollo 11 astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean
on this day in 1969.
United States President Richard Nixon was in the central Pacific
recovery area to welcome the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the USS Hornet, prime recovery ship for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, on July 24, 1969. The Apollo 11 astronauts are, from left,
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. The crew was
quarantined after splashdown to ensure they did not bring back
any contamination from the moon.
CAMILLE BOHANNON
On this day in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death
penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." The
ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.
Israel removed barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem on this day in 1967.
On this day in 1995, the shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space
station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever
to orbit the Earth.
Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002)
Singer and actress Rosemary Clooney came to prominence
in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House",
which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-
a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey
There" and "This Ole House".
A long-time smoker, Clooney was diagnosed with lung cancer
at the end of 2001. Around this time, she gave one of her last
concerts in Hawaii, backed by the Honolulu Symphony Pops;
her last song was "God Bless America". Her final show was
at Red Bank New Jersey’s Count Basie Theater in December
2001. Despite surgery, she died six months later on June 29,
2002, at her Beverly Hills home. Her nephew, actor George
Clooney, was a pallbearer at her funeral, which was attended
by numerous stars.
Pallbearers carry the casket of Rosemary Clooney out of St. Patrick’s Church after funeral services in Maysville, Ky. Actor George Clooney,
at center.
Recorded live on November 16, 2001, Released on
November 19, 2001.
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003)
Actress Katharine Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than
60 years. She appeared in a range of genres, from comedy to literary drama,
and she received four Academy Awards—a record for any performer—for
Best Actress. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute
as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.
In 1997, Katharine Hepburn had become very weak, was speaking and eating
very little, and it was feared she would die. She showed signs of dementia in
her final years. In May 2003, an aggressive tumor was found in Hepburn’s
neck. The decision was made not to medically intervene, and she died from
a cardiac arrest on June 29, 2003, a month after her 96th birthday at the
Hepburn family home in Fenwick, Connecticut.
1981
On this day in 1997, U.S. Air Force officials released a 231-page report
dismissing long-standing claims of an alien spacecraft crash in Roswell,
New Mexico, almost exactly 50 years earlier.
Public interest in Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs, began to flourish
in the 1940s, when developments in space travel and the dawn of the
atomic age caused many Americans to turn their attention to the skies.
The town of Roswell, located near the Pecos River in southeastern New
Mexico, became a magnet for UFO believers due to the strange events
of early July 1947, when ranch foreman W.W. Brazel found a strange,
shiny material scattered over some of his land. He turned the material
over to the sheriff, who passed it on to authorities at the nearby Air Force
base.
On July 8, Air Force officials announced they had recovered the wreckage
of a “flying disk.” A local newspaper (below) put the story on its front page,
launching Roswell into the spotlight of the public’s UFO fascination.
