A Brief History On March 2, 1978, space exploration history was made when Vladimír Remek, a pilot, politician, and diplomat from Czechoslovakia became the first person in space that was not Russian or American. Digging Deeper Remek lifted off aboard Soviet space craft Soyuz 28 for an 8-day trip to outer space, heading to the Soviet space station, Salyut 6. A former pilot in the Czechoslovakian Air Force, Remek was hailed a national hero and even was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal by the USSR. He parlayed his renown into a career in politics, serving as a…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On March 1, 1998, the movie industry reached a new milestone when the James Cameron epic film Titanic passed the magical $1 billion mark, the first movie to do so. Digging Deeper Titanic was a titanic success, eventually reaping $2.2 billion in box office receipts and currently ranking as the 3rd highest money maker. The highest-ranking film to date is Avatar at $2.9 billion and the number 2 spot is held by Avengers: Endgame at $2.8 billion. Titanic cost a then record $200 million to make, a pittance compared to the estimated budget of 2022’s Avatar: The…
A Brief History On February 28, 1959, a Thor-Agena A rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying a spy satellite designated Discoverer 1, the first in a spy satellite program of the American military and intelligence network. Digging Deeper Discoverer 1 was intended as the first ever satellite to orbit the Earth via the poles rather than on an equatorial orbit, and was part of the CORONA program. Actually a testbed, Discoverer 1 was not equipped with the camera and film that later satellites of the KH-1 type would carry. Unfortunately, the star-crossed spacecraft failed in…
A Brief History On February 27, 1807, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Maine, going on to a career in education and especially poetry, becoming the most prominent American poet of his day. Today, we ask you, “Who is America’s greatest poet?” We list some possible choices with perhaps their greatest poems, but feel free to add your own: Digging Deeper Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning” E.E. Cummings, “anyone lived in a pretty how town” Emily Dickinson, “Hope” Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken” Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Paul Revere’s Ride” Edgar…
A Brief History On February 26, 2023, the Wall Street Journal said that the US Department of Energy reported that the origin of the world-wide pandemic of COVID-19 in all probability did indeed come from a leak at the Wuhan, China biological lab that was the epicenter of the outbreak in late 2019. Digging Deeper The DOE joins the FBI in making this dramatic assertion, after years of suppression of any hint of allegations that this Chinese biolab that just happened to be at the source of the deadly virus was indeed responsible. It is abundantly apparent that the Chinese…