On This Day

📅 #OnThisDay in 1991 (34 years ago):

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1991 (34 years ago):

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1968 (57 years ago):

The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the famous Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1972 (53 years ago):

The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, surviving by cannibalism.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1986 (39 years ago):

Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without refueling. The flight ended at 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2010 (15 years ago):

The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the policy banning homosexuals serving in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1989 (36 years ago):

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was reopened as East and West Germany continued moving toward reunification. Berliners had been unable to use the gate since 1961, when the newly built Berlin Wall blocked access to it.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1955 (70 years ago):

Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2007 (18 years ago):

Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1972 (53 years ago):

The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1997 (28 years ago):

James Cameron's Titanic, a drama about the doomed ocean liner starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, premiered. It later became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1898 (127 years ago):

Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land speed record of 63.159 km/h (39.245 mph) in a Jeantaud electric car.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2019 (6 years ago):

The United States House of Representatives impeaches Donald Trump for the first time.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1935 (90 years ago):

First flight of the Douglas DC-3.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1989 (36 years ago):

The Simpsons premieres on television with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".

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Flag of Bahrain.

📅 #OnThisDay in 1971 (54 years ago):

The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1973 (52 years ago):

The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2001 (24 years ago):

The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1911 (114 years ago):

Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2004 (21 years ago):

The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is formally inaugurated near Millau, France.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2002 (23 years ago):

The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members on May 1, 2004.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2003 (22 years ago)

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces; three years later he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and was executed.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1977 (48 years ago):

Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, had its world premiere; the film was a huge hit, as was the accompanying disco sound track by the Bee Gees.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 2000 (25 years ago):

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a fair recount of ballots in Florida could not be performed by the deadline for certifying the state's electors, effectively ending the 2000 U.S. presidential election and awarding the presidency to George W. Bush.

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Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.

📅 #OnThisDay in 1936 (89 years ago):

King Edward VIII abdicates, giving up the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

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Apollo 17 on the surface of the Moon.

📅 #OnThisDay in 1972 (53 years ago):

Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and final Apollo mission to land on the Moon.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1901 (124 years ago):

The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

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George Lucas.

📅 #OnThisDay in 1971 (54 years ago):

Lucasfilm Ltd. is founded as a film and television production company by George Lucas in San Francisco, California. It is best known for creating and producing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1968 (57 years ago):

Douglas Engelbart demonstrates in "The Mother of All Demos" the computer system NLS (oN-Line System) to a live audience in San Francisco, showcasing for the first time the mouse, word processing, windows and other modern computing concepts.

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📅 #OnThisDay in 1979 (46 years ago):

The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of only two diseases that have been driven to extinction (with rinderpest in 2011 being the other).

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