The western tv series Bonanza ran on NBC from
September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting
14 seasons and 432 episodes, Bonanza is NBC’s
longest-running western, the second-longest-
running western series on U.S. network television
(behind CBS’s Gunsmoke), and one of the longest-
running, live-action American series.

Pioneer 10, the world’s first outer-planetary probe,was
launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to
Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet, on this day
in 1972.

In December 1973, after successfully negotiating the
asteroid belt and a distance of 620 million miles,
Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter and sent back to Earth
the first close-up images of the spectacular gas giant.

In June 1983, the NASA spacecraft left the solar system
and the next day radioed back the first scientific data on
interstellar space. NASA officially ended the Pioneer 10
project on March 31, 1997, with the spacecraft having
traveled a distance of some six billion miles.

MIKE GRACIA

Ronald William Howard is a director, producer, screenwriter,
and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor,
guest-starring in several television series, including an
episode of The Twilight Zone. 


He is best known for playing young Opie Taylor, the son 
of Sheriff Andy Taylor (played by Andy Griffith) in the
sitcom The Andy Griffith Show from 1960 through 1968. He
is 69 years old today.  

1973

1976

1995

(FOXNEWS) – Yellowstone National Park, an almost
mystical  2.2-million acre wonderland of dynamic
hydrothermal activity, breathtaking scenery and
spectacular wildlife, was established on this day in
history, March 1, 1872.        

It was the first national park in the United States and,
to most people around the world, the first known on
the planet. It quickly inspired an international
conservation movement in the wake of the Industrial
Revolution.

This poster was created in 1938 as part of the Works
Progress Administration, or WPA.