◆ On this day

August 20

4 sourced moments from August 20 in history: Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' Premiered in Moscow (1882); The 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia: four armies, not five; Viking 1, launched in 1975, made the first lasting Mars landing, plus 1 more.

‹

›

M 17 T 18 W 19 T 20 F 21 S 22 S 23

4 things happened on August 20

newest first ↓

1977 Space · Space Exploration

Voyager 2 launched in 1977 funded to visit only two planets

Voyager 2 left Earth on August 20, 1977, cleared only for Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus and Neptune were added once it proved itself.

Read →

1975 Space · Space Exploration

Viking 1, launched in 1975, made the first lasting Mars landing

Viking 1 left Florida in August 1975 and put the first working lander on Mars. Its hunt for life is still debated.

Read →

1968 History · War & Conflict

The 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia: four armies, not five

Warsaw Pact troops crushed the Prague Spring on 20–21 August 1968 — but East Germany's army, though ready, never crossed the border.

Read →

1882 Culture & Arts · Music

Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' Premiered in Moscow

The cannon-blasting tribute to Russia's defeat of Napoleon roared to life at a Moscow exhibition hall in the summer of 1882.

Read →