OnThisDay
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August 15, 1914: Opening of the Panama Canal
constitutingamerica.org August 15, 1914: Opening of the Panama Canal - Constituting AmericaPrior to World War I, oceanic travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had to route dangerous passages around southern South America. Considerations for a way to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific were present for centuries. More recent among these include survey expeditions Ulysses S. ...
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August 10, 1977 - Serial killer David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) was arrested after murdering six people in New York City and plunging the city into a panic.
www.britannica.com David Berkowitz | Biography, Crimes, & FactsDavid Berkowitz, American serial killer who murdered six people in New York City in 1976–77. His crimes plunged the city into a panic and unleashed one of the largest manhunts in New York history. He became known as Son of Sam, which was the name he used in letters sent to newspapers during his kill...
- www.wired.com Aug. 7, 1991: Ladies and Gentlemen, the World Wide Web
Tim Berners-Lee, an inventor of the internet, sits outside his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. Photo: Ed Quinn / Corbis 1991: The world wide web becomes publicly available on the internet for the first time. The web has changed a lot since Tim Berners-Lee posted, on this...
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July 22, 1933: Wiley Post becomes the first person to fly solo around the world, completing the journey in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes.
www.wired.com July 22, 1933: Wiley Post Flies Around the World Alone1933: Pilot Wiley Post returns to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes after leaving. Aided by new technology, his flight is the first solo circumnavigation by air, and it’s also the fastest-ever around-the-world-trip. Born in Texas, Post wanted to be a pilot after...
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July 20th, 1969: Humans walk on the moon for the first time as part of NASA's Apollo 11 mission. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first and second person to walk on the moon.
www.archives.gov 20 July 1969Summer 2003, Vol. 35, No. 2 By Bruce I. Bustard Enlarge Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, July 20, 1969. View in National Archives Catalog "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for all mankind." — Astronaut Neil Armstrong's words as he made his first step onto the surface of the Moon July 20, 1969...
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July 17, 1962: Robert White flew the X-15 rocket plane to an altitude of 59.6 miles, becoming the first "winged" astronaut.
www.nasa.gov X-15 Pilot Robert White DiesOn July 17, 1962, Major White flew the X-15 to an altitude of 314,750 feet, or 59 miles, becoming the first "winged astronaut."
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July 15th, 2015 - The NASA spacecraft New Horizons performs a close flyby of Pluto, becoming the first spacecraft in history to visit the distant world.
www.nasa.gov NASA’s New Horizons Team Finds Haze, Flowing Ice on PlutoFlowing ice and a surprising extended haze are among the newest discoveries from NASA’s New Horizons mission, which reveal distant Pluto to be an icy world of wonders.