◆ On this day

February 20

4 sourced moments from February 20 in history: Metropolitan Museum of Art opens (1872); India's last Viceroy beat Britain's deadline by ten months (1947); John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962, plus 1 more.

‹

›

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

4 things happened on February 20

newest first ↓

1986 Space · Space Exploration

Mir launched in 1986; its backup core still flies on the ISS

Mir's core module reached orbit in February 1986, grew into a 130-tonne complex, and lives on: its flight backup became the ISS's Zvezda module.

Read →

1962 Space · Space Exploration

John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn circled Earth three times in Friendship 7, flying partly by hand and riding out a heat-shield alarm that proved false.

Read →

1947 History · Empires & Civilizations

India's last Viceroy beat Britain's deadline by ten months

Named on 20 February 1947 with orders to quit India by June 1948, Mountbatten handed over power in August 1947 — then stayed on.

Read →

1872 Culture & Arts · Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art opens

What is now one of the world's great art museums began in a rented Fifth Avenue building with a borrowed collection.

Read →