Today in History – October 4
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Oct. 4, 1957: The Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, by the Soviet Union.
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1777: General George Washington’s troops attacked the British in Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavy American casualties and a retreat.
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1927: Sculptor Gutzon Borglum started constructing Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
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1965: Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere, addressing the U.N. General Assembly.
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1970: Rock singer Janis Joplin was found dead at age 27 in her Hollywood hotel room.
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2001: A Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile accidentally downed a Russian airliner over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people aboard.
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2002: John Walker Lindh, known as the “American Taliban,” was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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2004: The SpaceShipOne rocket plane successfully broke into space for the second time, winning the $10 million Ansari X prize.
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2010: A toxic sludge spill in Hungary flooded towns, killing eight and injuring over 220.
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2017: Four U.S. Army Green Berets and four Nigerian soldiers were ambushed in Niger, with ISIS militants responsible.
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2021: A major global outage affected Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, disrupting services for hours.
Today’s Birthdays
- Tony La Russa (82)
- Susan Sarandon (80)
- Armand Assante (77)
- Christoph Waltz (70)
- Jon Secada (65)
- Liev Schreiber (59)
- Abraham Benrubi (57)
- Alicia Silverstone (50)
- Caitríona Balfe (47)
- Rachael Leigh Cook (47)
- Melissa Benoist (38)
- Derrick Rose (38)
- Dakota Johnson (37)
- Ryan Lee (30)
- Ella Balinska (30)
- Lunay (26)
