Inventions, firsts, and turning points tied to today’s date — each one sourced and dated.
The first piece of a station whose name means "peace" reached orbit, seeding a decade of unbroken human presence in space.
America finally caught up in the space race when a Marine pilot circled the planet three times and brought himself home by hand.
What is now one of the world's great art museums began in a rented Fifth Avenue building with a borrowed collection.
