A Brief History On September 16, 1979, eight people yearning to be free of oppressive communism in East Germany made a flight to freedom in a hot air balloon to West Germany. Digging Deeper Amazingly, the escapees had been plotting their flight for over 18 months and had failed in a previous attempt. Lucky for them the authorities were unable to identify the would-be aeronauts. The successful balloon was the third balloon constructed by the determined Germans. Germany had been separated into Soviet and other Allied zones after the end of World War II in Europe, with East Germany dominated…
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A Brief History On September 13, 1987, two thieves took advantage of a guard being absent from an abandoned Brazilian hospital site to help themselves to whatever they could scavenge. The men made the blunder of taking a 3.3-ounce capsule of caesium chloride, a highly radioactive substance used in radiation therapy. Digging Deeper The same night of the theft, the thieves exhibited signs of radiation poisoning. Visiting a local clinic, they were diagnosed with radiation sickness. About three days after the theft, the thieves opened the capsule and picked out some of the glowing blue substance inside. The thieves sold…
A Brief History On September 12, 1992, NASA launched mission STS-47, an historic flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Digging Deeper Among the notable facts about this particular flight, is that this mission marked the 50th space shuttle flight. Another first, was the first African American woman in space, Mae Carol Jemison. Mamoru Mohri became the first ever Japanese astronaut aboard a US spacecraft, and the first married couple to be together in space when Mark Lee and Jan Davis made the space flight as crew members. Endeavor made a total of 25 successful space flights from 1992 until retirement in…
A Brief History On September 9, 1972, an exploration team mapping the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky discovered that the Mammoth Cave system was linked to the Flint Ridge cave network, making it the longest cave passageway in the world. Digging Deeper Upon the discovery by the Cave Research Foundation team, the entire cave system is now known as the Mammoth–Flint Ridge Cave System. In fact, the Flint Ridge portion is even longer than the part previously just called Mammoth Cave. A 52,830-acre National Park since 1941, the caves boast over 426 miles of surveyed passages, one and a half…
A Brief History Hello, everyone, I am Dr. Zar from the YouTube channel History and Headlines! Today, I would like to bring to your attention a fundraiser on behalf of one of my friends and colleagues, historian Daniel N. Gullotta of Ashland University. At just five days old, Daniel’s son, Colby Jackson (aka “Jack”) was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Digging Deeper Per the official fundraiser, this disease, which affects one in 11,000 births in the United States, robs people of their physical strength, significantly impacting an individual’s ability to walk, swallow, or breathe. Given Jack’s type of SMA,…