Rockntractor
05-05-2012, 01:00 PM
American Revolution
Clinton excludes Howe and Harnett from amnesty offer, 1776
Automotive
Driving pioneer Bertha Benz dies, 1944
Civil War
Grant and Lee clash in the Wilderness forest, 1864
Cold War
Allies end occupation of West Germany, 1955
Crime
Human remains found in suitcase near Virginia Beach, 2004
Disaster
Hail storm surprises Dallas residents, 1995
General Interest
Napoleon dies in exile, 1821
Cinco de Mayo, 1862
Six killed in Oregon by Japanese bomb, 1945
IRA militant Bobby Sands dies, 1981
Hollywood
Spider-Man is first movie to top $100 million in opening weekend, 2002
Literary
The Examiner publishes John Keats' first poem, 1816
Music
Peaches and Herb top the pop charts with "Reunited", 1979
Old West
Sitting Bull leads his people into Canada, 1877
Presidential
Reagan visits concentration camp and war cemetery, 1985
Sports
Cy Young throws perfect game, 1904
Vietnam War
U.S. forces capture Snoul, Cambodia, 1970
North Vietnamese turn back South Vietnamese relief column, 1972
World War I
Italian delegates return to Paris peace conference, 1919
World War II
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to his capital, 1941
May 5, 1961:
The first American in space
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
NASA was established in 1958 to keep U.S. space efforts abreast of recent Soviet achievements, such as the launching of the world's first artificial satellite--Sputnik 1--in 1957. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the two superpowers raced to become the first country to put a man in space and return him to Earth. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet space program won the race when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into space, put in orbit around the planet, and safely returned to Earth. One month later, Shepard's suborbital flight restored faith in the U.S. space program.
NASA continued to trail the Soviets closely until the late 1960s and the successes of the Apollo lunar program. In July 1969, the Americans took a giant leap forward with Apollo 11, a three-stage spacecraft that took U.S. astronauts to the surface of the moon and returned them to Earth. On February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Clinton excludes Howe and Harnett from amnesty offer, 1776
Automotive
Driving pioneer Bertha Benz dies, 1944
Civil War
Grant and Lee clash in the Wilderness forest, 1864
Cold War
Allies end occupation of West Germany, 1955
Crime
Human remains found in suitcase near Virginia Beach, 2004
Disaster
Hail storm surprises Dallas residents, 1995
General Interest
Napoleon dies in exile, 1821
Cinco de Mayo, 1862
Six killed in Oregon by Japanese bomb, 1945
IRA militant Bobby Sands dies, 1981
Hollywood
Spider-Man is first movie to top $100 million in opening weekend, 2002
Literary
The Examiner publishes John Keats' first poem, 1816
Music
Peaches and Herb top the pop charts with "Reunited", 1979
Old West
Sitting Bull leads his people into Canada, 1877
Presidential
Reagan visits concentration camp and war cemetery, 1985
Sports
Cy Young throws perfect game, 1904
Vietnam War
U.S. forces capture Snoul, Cambodia, 1970
North Vietnamese turn back South Vietnamese relief column, 1972
World War I
Italian delegates return to Paris peace conference, 1919
World War II
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to his capital, 1941
May 5, 1961:
The first American in space
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
NASA was established in 1958 to keep U.S. space efforts abreast of recent Soviet achievements, such as the launching of the world's first artificial satellite--Sputnik 1--in 1957. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the two superpowers raced to become the first country to put a man in space and return him to Earth. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet space program won the race when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into space, put in orbit around the planet, and safely returned to Earth. One month later, Shepard's suborbital flight restored faith in the U.S. space program.
NASA continued to trail the Soviets closely until the late 1960s and the successes of the Apollo lunar program. In July 1969, the Americans took a giant leap forward with Apollo 11, a three-stage spacecraft that took U.S. astronauts to the surface of the moon and returned them to Earth. On February 5, 1971, Alan Shepard, the first American in space, became the fifth astronaut to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history