◆ On this day

February 3

3 sourced moments from February 3 in history: Johannes Gutenberg dies (1468); 'The Day the Music Died' plane crash (1959); and Luna 9 proved the Moon wasn't a sea of dust in 1966.

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3 things happened on February 3

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1966 Space · Space Exploration

Luna 9 proved the Moon wasn't a sea of dust in 1966

The first soft landing on another world, by a 99 kg Soviet ball on airbags, settled whether the lunar surface could hold a spacecraft.

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1959 Culture & Arts · Music

'The Day the Music Died' plane crash

A chartered light plane went down in an Iowa snowstorm, killing three young rock and roll stars and reshaping the music's mythology.

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1468 Technology · Inventions

Johannes Gutenberg dies

The Mainz goldsmith who fitted Europe with movable type died in 1468, having quietly set in motion the age of mass communication.

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