Laika launched into space
On this day in 1957, Laika, a stray dog picked up by the Soviet spaceflight program, became the first living creature to be launched into space and orbit Earth. 1957.
American producer and composer Quincy Jones died at age 91; he worked with many of the biggest names in jazz, rock, R&B, pop, and hip-hop and was especially known for his work on Michael Jackson‘s blockbuster album Thriller (1982). 2024.
One World Trade Center opened in New York City on the site of the former World Trade Center complex, which had been destroyed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 2014.
The discovery, in Ningxia, of a previously unknown segment of the Great Wall of China was announced. 1998.
Democratic politician Carol Moseley Braun became the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. 1992.
Dominica achieved full independence, with Patrick Roland John as its first prime minister. 1978.
Anna Wintour—who, as the longtime editor of American Vogue, became one of the most powerful figures in fashion—was born in London, England. 1949.
Influenced by Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla and U.S. interests, a revolutionary junta proclaimed Panamanian independence from Colombia. 1903.
Stephen Austin, the founder of the principal settlements of English-speaking people in Texas in the 1820s, when that territory was still part of Mexico, was born in Virginia. He is the namesake of Texas’s state capital. 1793.
