Category: This Day in History

1959 Typhoon Vera hits Japan The category five typhoon is thought to be the strongest typhoon to impact the island country in recorded history. The resulting rain, landslides, and damage caused the deaths of about 5000 people in Japan. 1917 Battle of…

2008 China launches Shenzhou spacecraft with 3 astronauts This was the third human manned space flight mission of China’s Space Program. 1992 NASA launches the Mars Observer The robotic space probe’s main goal was to study Mars. Almost a year later all…

1948 Honda Motor Company is founded by Soichiro Honda The automobile manufacturer is also the world’s largest producer of motorcycles. 1973 Guinea-Bissau gains independence Guinea-Bissau declared its independence from Portugal. The declaration was recognized almost a year later on September 10, 1974.…

1889 Nintendo is Founded The Japanese gaming company was created by entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi as a card company called Nintendo Koppai, which was based in Kyoto. The company originally produced and sold playing cards called Hanafuda. The release of Donkey Kong, an…

2000 Microsoft Launches Windows ME The Millennium Edition was the last of the operating systems of the Windows 9x series. 1985 The Golden Girls Make Their Television Debut The popular American sitcom about 4 single and older women living together in a…

1993 Oslo accords are signed Also known as Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, the Accords helped create the Palestinian interim self-government or the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and called for the withdrawal of the Israeli Defence Forces from the West…

1992 First African American Woman goes into Space Mae C. Jemison, a physician, was a Mission Specialist on STS-47 which was the 50th space flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. It was the space shuttle Endeavour’s second flight. During over 190 hours…

1971 The crew of Soviet spacecraft “Soyuz 11” dies after the loss of air supply The cause of the tragedy was a faulty valve. The three cosmonauts had previously achieved the first docking of a spacecraft to a space station in history.…

2007 Apple releases the first iPhone The iPhone revolutionized the smartphone industry and for a while made Apple one of the world’s most valuable companies. 1995 The Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian space station Mir The rendezvous in space marked…

2002 The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty The ABM Treaty was signed in 1972 by the Soviet Union and the United States. It regulated the establishment of anti-ballistic missile shields against nuclear missiles. Critics bemoaned the treaty’s termination for…