Today in 1968, the Soviet Union was launching the Zond 5 mission, orbiting the moon. But on cosmanaut, knowing the US would be listening, decided to pretend he’d landed on the moon's surface.
Today in 1938, a pilot named Douglas Corrigan was supposed to fly from New York to California, but ended up in Dublin. “Wrong Way” Corrigan became an international celebrity - even if the story he told was not necessarily what actually happened.
Today in 1951, Sally Ride was born. She was a worldwide sensation in the 1980s as the first American woman in space, but before that, she was a talented youth tennis player who once caught the attention of the legendary Billie Jean King.
Today in 1972, astronauts John Young and Charles Duke stepped on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission. Along the way, one of the moonwalkers revealed to the world, without meaning to, that orange juice had made him gassy.
Today in 1984, two US astronauts walked in space. And, for the first time, they weren’t connected to anything.
Today in 1923, the birthday of Alan Shepard. He was the first American in space, and the first person to ever play golf on the Moon.
For National Photography Day, here’s a remarkable photographic story from the 1890s: a guy in Norway made his own candid camera.
Today in 1939, the birthday of Wally Funk. She first passed astronaut training in her 20s and could have been one of the first US astronauts, but after some 60 years of trying, she finally got into space.
Today in 1963, a black and white cat from the streets of France became the first cat to go into space. She didn't choose to go, of course, but she's a pioneer just the same - and until a few years ago, a greatly underappreciated one. Plus: today in 1922, a girl in Illinois made it to school after being run over by a train?!?
For National Hispanic Heritage Month, here's the story of the first Hispanic woman in space, Ellen Ochoa, talented and versatile even by astronaut standards. Plus: an art student in China breaks stuff for art's sake, through a very peculiar vending machine.
