2015 Commercial space company SpaceX has been approved as a contractor to the U.S. military for satellite launches; SpaceX will compete for contracts against the Boeing-Lockheed Martin United Launch Alliance, currently the primary military launch provider 2014 President Barack Obama plans to keep 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015 and then reduce this number over the following two years to a small force; the troops will train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations 2014 Google reveals its self-driving car today; the prototype can drive 25 miles per hour and safely respond to a variety of situations; it should be road-ready sometime after 2016; Ford, Tesla and other firms are also working on self-driving technology 2013 Guinness World Records records the largest flag ever made, by a village in Romania; the flag of Romania weighs five tons and used 44 miles of thread 2013 Scientists in Canada bring 400 year-old bryophyte specimens left behind by retreating glaciers during the Ice Age back to life 2012 At the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, screenwriter and filmmaker Michael Haneke wins the Palm D'Or for 'Love' 2012 Following some controversial remarks, Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, is accused of 'insulting the Greek people' 2011 U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron, confirms the United Kingdom is sending Apache attack helicopters to assist the 2011 Libyan uprising 2011 Crewmembers of the Endeavour space shuttle Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff take what is potentially the last spacewalk ever conducted by a space shuttle crew 2006 Java, Indonesia suffers a 6.3 magnitue earthquake, killing more than 6,000 1997 1st all female (20 British women) team reaches North Pole 1997 Arie Luyendyk wins his 2nd Indianapolis 500 1997 Judge finds Pamela Lee not guilty of breaking a contract 1997 Major league revenue sharing begins, New York Yankees pay out most $28M 1997 Marv Albert pleads innocent to charges of sexually assault 1997 Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a historic treaty with NATO 1994 Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after 20 years in exile 1994 Final broadcast of Arsenio Hall talk show 1994 Flintstones live action movie opens in theaters 1994 Larry King ended his radio show 1994 Radio conservative Rush Limbaugh (43) weds Marta Fitzgerald (35) 1993 Dale Murphy ends carreer at 398 home runs 1993 Mafia bombs Uffizi-museum in Florence, kills 6 1991 Austrian Boeing 767-300 explodes at Bangkok, 223 die 1990 74th Indianapolis 500 runs 1990 Cesar Gaviria Trujillo chosen President of Colombia 1990 Jan Stephenson wins J C Penney LPGA Golf Skins Game 1990 Pat Bradley wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic 1990 Radical Democratic Party holds 1st political meetings in Moscow 1988 Senate ratified a treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles 1987 Jim and Tammy Bakker appear on "Nightline" after PTL scandal 1987 Postage wins 32nd Europe Cup 1 in Vienna 1987 Yank Phil Niekro is 3rd pitcher to make 700th start (Young and Sutton) 1986 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island 1986 Norway Showcase groundbreaking 1986 President Reagan orderes 2 Poseidon-class submarines be dismantled 1985 Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 1985 Inaugural bands parade for President Reagan 1984 Beth Henley's "Miss Firecracker contest," premieres in New York City 1984 Joanne Carner wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic 1984 Manuela Manleeva wins 3 singles tennis matches in one day 1983 Former EPA official Rita Lavelle indicted for contempt of Congress 1982 "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes..." opens at Alvin New York City for 5 performances 1982 John McMullen buys NHL Colorodo Rockies and gets approval to move to New Jersey 1981 John Hinckley attempts suicide by overdosing on Tylenol 1981 Lenny Randle tries to blow a slow roller foul but ump says no 1981 Liverpool wins 26th Europe Cup 1 at Paris 1981 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. 1980 South Korean police ends people's uprising; 2,000 killed 1979 Penny Pulz wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic 1979 Pope John Paul ordains John J O'Conner as a bishop 1977 2 Boeing 747s by Pan Am and KLM collide in Canary Islands, killing 582 1977 New York City fines George Willig 1 cents for each of 110 stories he climbed 1976 "Something's Afoot" opens at Lyceum Theater New York City for 61 performances 1975 Paul McCartney releases "Venus and Mars" 1975 Stanley Cup: Philadelphia Flyers beat Buffalo Sabres, 4 games to 2 1975 Worst motor vehicle disaster in U.K.; bus full of elderly women plunges Dibble's Bridge Yorkshire, killing 38 1974 Pirates Ken Brett no-hits Padres until 9th inning 1973 Rick Wohlhuter runs record 880 yards in 1:44.6 1972 "Applause" closes at Palace Theater New York City after 900 performances 1971 23rd Walker Cup: Britain - Ireland, 13 - 11 1971 UCLA wins NCAA basketball championship 1970 British expedition climbs south face of Annapurna I 1970 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. 1969 Walt Disney World construction begins 1968 6th Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yankees 4-3 1968 NL awards Montreal and SD major league franchises 1968 Nuclear submarine Scorpion is lost 1967 "Sherry!" closes at Alvin Theater New York City after 65 performances 1966 55th German F-16 Starfighter crashes 1966 6 French fighters crash above Spain 1965 Inter Milan wins 10th Europe Cup 1 in Milan 1964 "From Russia With Love" premieres in U.S. 1964 Inter Milan wins 9th Europe Cup 1 in Vienna 1963 3 New Jersey businessman purchase NHL Colorado Rockies, and get approval to move them to New Jersey Meadowlands (Devils) 1963 Jomo Kenyatta elected 1st prime minister of Kenya 1962 Ruth Jessen wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open 1961 1st black light is sold 1961 Fiorentina wins 1st Europe Cup II in Florence 1961 Ralph Boston of U.S., sets then long jump record at 27' " 1960 Baltimore manager Paul Richards devises oversized catcher's mitt 1960 Military coup overthrows democratic government of Turkey 1958 Ernest Green and 600 whites graduate from Little Rock's Central HS 1958 Vanguard SLV-1 launched for Earth orbit (failed) 1956 French raid in Algiers 1956 U.S. performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests) 1955 Boston Red Sox Norm Zauchin gets 10 RBIs, beating Senators 16-0 1955 Red Buttons Show, last airs on NBC-TV 1953 Dutch social democratic/Dutch Liberal Party win municipal elections 1952 European Defense Community forms 1951 Chinese Communists force Dalai Lama to surrender his army to Beijing 1951 Maritime Museum at Aquatic Park, San Francisco opens 1950 "Arms and the Girl" closes at 46th St. Theater New York City after 134 performances 1950 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Wallace Stevens 1949 Indians start 12-17, owner Bill Veeck arranges a "Second Opening Day" 1949 Martin Canine, cartoon character, spoofs Martin Kane 1949 Russian stop train traffic West-Berlin 1948 Arabs blow up Jewish synagogue Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid 1948 Hank Greenberg buys an interest in the Cleveland Indians 1944 Allies land on Biak, Indonesia (operation Horlicks) 1944 Japanese advance in Hangkhou, China 1944 Jean-Paul Sartres "Huis Clos," premieres in Paris 1943 French defiance under Jean Moulin meets secretly in Paris 1943 U.S. forbid racial discrimination in war industry 1942 Dorie Miller, awarded Navy cross for deeds at Pearl Harbor 1942 Hitler orders 10,000 Czechoslovakians murdered 1942 Italian army begin siege of French western Fort Bir Hachim 1942 Top German Nazi Reinhard Heydrich is shot and mortally wounded in Prague 1941 Allied troops begin evacuating Kreta 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt declares state of emergency due to Germany's sinking of Robin Moor 1941 German battleship Bismarck sunk by British naval force 1940 British and French begin evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) 1937 Carl Hubbell wins his 24th consecutive game (since July 17, 1936) 1937 Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, dedicated 1936 RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton for New York on maiden voyage 1935 Supreme Court declares FDR's National Recovery Act unconstitutional 1933 Austrian Communist Party banned 1933 Century of Progress Exposition opens in Chicago 1933 Federal Securities Act signed 1933 Trailing 11-3, Yankees score 12 runs in 8th and beat White Sox 15-11 1933 Walt Disney's "3 Little Pigs" released 1931 1st full scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes, Langley Field, Virginia 1931 Piccard and Knipfer make 1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon 1930 Richard Drew invents masking tape 1929 2nd Ryder Cup: Britain - Ireland, 7 - 5 at Moortown, England 1927 Japanese military intervention in Chinese civil war 1927 Thomas Masaryk elected Czechoslovakia president 1921 After 84 years of British control, Afghanistan achieves sovereignty 1920 Tatar ASSR forms in Russian SFSR 1919 1st transatlantic flight ends; U.S. Navy flying boat takes 11 days 1919 Charles Strite patents pop-up toaster 1917 Race riot in East St. Louis Illinois, 1 black killed 1916 Groundbreaking begins on Hugh Grant Circle in Bronx 1907 Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco 1906 1st outlining of Gustav Mahler's 6th symphony, in Essen 1905 30th Preakness: W Davis aboard Cairngore wins in 1:45.8 1905 Japanese fleet destroys Russian East Sea fleet in Straits of Tushima 1904 NL record of 5 stolen bases in a game (Dennis McGann, New York Giants) 1903 37th Belmont: John Bullman aboard Africander wins in 2:21.75 1903 Queen Wilhelmina opens Berlages Merchants bureau in Amsterdam 1902 27th Preakness: L Jackson aboard Old England wins in 1:45.8 1900 Lord Roberts' army fights the Vaal in South Africa 1898 Arthur Pinero's "Trelawney of the 'Wells'," premieres in London 1896 Bay District Race Track closes 1896 Tornado hit St. Louis, killing 255 and leaving thousands homeless 1895 British inventor Birt Acres patents film camera/projector 1893 Audath Yisroel forms at Kattowitz (Katowice) Poland 1883 Czar Alexander III crowned in Moscow 1882 10th Preakness: T Costello aboard Vanguard wins in 2:44 1881 9th Preakness: T Costello aboard Saunterer wins in 2:40 1878 6th Preakness: C Holloway aboard Duke of Magenta wins in 2:41.75 1878 Australians Cricket 41 and 12-1 defeat MCC 33 and 19 1864 Skirmish at Salem Church (Haw's Shop), Virginia 1863 CSS Chattahoochie explodes on Chattahoochie River GA, 18 die 1863 Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana 1862 Battle of Hanover Court House, Virginia (Slash Church, Peake's Station) 1856 Doctor William Palmer found guilty of poisoning 1854 Marine Telegraph from Ft. Point to San Francisco completed 1850 Mormon Temple in Nauvoo, Illinois destroyed by tornado 1844 Samuel F.B. Morse completes 1st telegraph line 1813 Americans capture Ft. George, Canada 1796 James S. McLean patents his piano 1738 Turkish troops occupy Orsova and Ochakov 1703 St. Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Peter the Great 1689 Anthonie Heinsius succeeds G Fagel as pension advisor of Holland 1679 Habeaus Corpus Act (no false arrest and imprisonment) passes in UK 1660 Denmark and Sweden sign ceasefire 1529 30 Jews of Posing Hungary, charged with blood ritual, burned at stake 1328 French king Philip VI Valois crowned 1281 Flemish Earl Gwijde Dampierre takes financial responsibility of Brugge
