Browsing: Travel

A Brief History On June 29, 1971, the first human space travelers to die while in space perished when their Soyuz 11 space capsule depressurized after leaving the Soviet space station, Salyut 1. Digging Deeper Salyut 1 was the first space station launched into orbit around the Earth in April of 1971, and despite its then groundbreaking technology, only lasted less than 6 months, of which humans occupied it for a total of 24 days. Soviet cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev had become the first ever spacemen to occupy a space station, from June 7th to June…

A Brief History On June 25, 1997, an unmanned Russian spacecraft called Progress-M blundered into the Russian manned Mir space station.  Despite considerable damage, no lives were lost, and the space station continued its mission. Digging Deeper Launched in 1986, Mir was a Soviet space venture that was built up through 1996, and eventually abandoned and burned up on reentry to the Earth’s atmosphere in 2001.  Manned by a crew of 3, Mir was the largest human built satellite of the Earth until the International Space Station was built starting in 1998.  Holding space records eventually beaten by the ISS,…

A Brief History On June 23, 2023, Americans celebrate National Detroit Style Pizza Day, a day to honor perhaps America’s favorite food in a unique style. Digging Deeper While most are familiar with “New York Style” and “Chicago Style” pizza, the variety invented by Buddy’s Pizza in Detroit, Michigan back in 1946 is a major player in gustatory wars that define pizza. Detroit Style is different, starting with its square shape, baked with a thick, airy crust in a square pan, spread with plenty of Wisconsin Brick Cheese all the way to the ends, covered with “racing stripes” of pizza…

A Brief History On June 22, 1918, a passenger train carrying US military troops plowed into the rear end of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train that had stopped on the tracks for repairs.  Sadly, 86 of the over 250 circus people died and 127 were injured, making the Hammond Circus Train Wreck one of the worst in US railroad history. Digging Deeper The name of the wreck derives from the location, near Hammond, Indiana.  The driver of the troop train had fallen asleep and missed at least two warnings about the stopped train ahead.  Luckily, the relatively fragile wooden circus cars…

A Brief History On June 15, 1858, Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli called the Thames River in London, England, a “Stygian pool, reeking with ineffable and intolerable horrors.”  The growth of London as a major industrial giant had turned the river into an open sewer that became so foul the Queen and Prince Consort were forced off the waters and Parliament could not conduct business due to the stench! Digging Deeper The summer of 1858 was a hot one, with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit, grossly aggravating the stench from a river that took in human and industrial waste…