1890 - Congress establishes Yosemite National Park

30 years ago today the first cd rolled off the presses, a Billy Joel album.

Couldn't find the Yesterday in History thread.
Happy birthday to the USAF. Pops was a General's Staff Sargent in the Philippines on this day. Damn he's old.

The Horror of Antietam

1945: Representatives of the Empire of Japan sign the Instrument of Surrender

 oldslabsides wrote: 
assuredly

 cc_rider wrote: 

indeed

 oldslabsides wrote:  So far...

1945: the most destructive war in history ends with the Japanese surrender.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
And of course they couldn't have just demonstrated it on a low-populace area. We had to get our revenge in for Pearl Harbor. And then they dropped another one three days later. And I'm supposed to be proud to be an American. Maybe if I lived in South America.

1945: The first use of a nuclear weapon.

I remember exactly where I was, at a bar called Fat Molly's in Cleveland. I remember staring at the moon all night, so amazed that there were people up there. Of course, now we know it was a big hoax

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight which landed the first humans, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface 6 hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. A third member of the mission, Michael Collins, remained alone in lunar orbit until they returned from the surface about 15 hours later. All 3 returned to Earth safely after travelling in space for 8 days.

Launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida on July 16, Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of NASA's Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft had three parts: a Command Module with a cabin for the three astronauts which was the only part which landed back on Earth; a Service Module containing propulsion, electrical power, oxygen and water; and a Lunar Module for landing on the Moon. After being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V's upper stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and travelled for three days until they entered into lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the Lunar Module and landed in the Sea of Tranquility. They stayed a total of about 21½ hours on the lunar surface, including about 2½ hours outside the spacecraft. After lifting off in the upper part of the Lunar Module and rejoining Collins in the Command Module, they returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

Broadcast on live TV to a world-wide audience, Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and described the event as "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Apollo 11 effectively ended the Space Race and fulfilled a national goal proposed in 1961 by the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy in a speech before the United States Congress, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."<3>

 Proclivities wrote: 
<heart eyes>

Diana Rigg was born - 1938.

Billie Holiday died of complications from liver disease in NYC - July 17, 1959.

VH1 Classic: On this day in 1974, The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Board ordered John Lennon to leave the country within 60 days.

 mzpro5 wrote: 


tonight at a local place, several of my favorite local musicians from a few different outfits are getting together to do a 50th anniversary thing. can't wait!!!

Fifty years ago on July 12, 1962 the Rolling Stones played their first public concert at the Marquee Club in London.

On this date in 1804 Vice-President Aaron Burr and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton fought a duel. Burr shot Hamilton. Hamilton died.