A Brief History On January 28, 1986, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger took off right on schedule, only to explode 74 seconds later, killing all seven crew members on board in front of a horrified live television audience. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Challenger, having made 9 previous successful flights and having traveled over 25 million miles in its career prior to the tragedy. The crew, who had planned to study Halley’s Comet as part of their mission, also included a civilian, Mrs. Sharon Christa McAuliffe. Mrs. McAuliffe, who was from New Hampshire, had won a contest to become…
Browsing: Travel
A Brief History On November 24, 1971, a man known only as D.B. Cooper jumped with a parachute from a Boeing 727 into history as the only unsolved airplane hijacker! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find a white male, mistakenly identified as D.B. Cooper, getting on a flight out of Portland, Oregon heading to Seattle, Washington on Northwest Orient Airlines. Carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit, D.B. looked like a typical businessman of perhaps just over average height and early middle age. Cooper handed a note to a stewardess who plopped it into her purse without giving it a…
A Brief History On November 4, 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter found the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Digging Deeper The boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun reigned ca. 1332 to 1323 B.C., his name meaning that he is the living image of the god Amun. “Tut” was likely the son of the rather unique pharaoh Akhenaten, the husband to Nefertiti, who herself ranks seventh on a list of Top 10 African Rulers, Kings and Emperors. Tut’s father’s uniqueness stems from attempting something of a religious revolution. Tut’s father tried to focus worship on the sun disk…
A Brief History On November 1, 1896, a picture showing the unclad or bare breasts of a woman appeared in National Geographic magazine for the first time in the publication’s long history. Digging Deeper National Geographic is one of the world’s most respected and outright useful magazines. Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society has expanded to have a magazine with a U.S. readership of 4,125,152 and international readership of 875,962 (as of December 2012) in addition to its own television network and even video games. The scientific and historical work done by its members have brought about numerous breakthroughs…
A Brief History On October 24, 1901, Annie Edson Taylor became the first confirmed person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel on her 63rd birthday! Digging Deeper Annie Edson Taylor was born on October 24, 1838. She worked as a school teacher before traveling around searching for other employment opportunities. In her later life, the future “Queen of the Mist” eventually decided to become the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, earning her a ranking of seventh on a list of “Top 10 Daredevils”. To prepare for her short journey, she designed a special…
