History at a glance

TODAY is Sunday October 24 the 297th day of the year. There are 68 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1911 – Orville Wright, remains in the air nine minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider, at Kill Devil Hills,

North Carolina.

1944 – World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku and the battleship Japanese battleship Musashi

are sunk by American aircraft in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

1945 – Founding of the United Nations.

1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space. 1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam.

1957 - French fashion designer Christian Dior, responsible for the “New Look”, died.

1973 – The Yom Kippur War ends.

1998 – Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission.

2003 – Concorde makes its last commercial flight.

2004 – Arsenal Football Club loses to Manchester United, ending a row of unbeaten matches at 49 matches,

which is the record in the Premier League.

2005 – Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in Florida resulting in 35 direct 26 indirect fatalities and causing

$20.6B USD in damage.

2007 – Chang’e 1, the first satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from Xichang

Satellite Launch Center.

2008 – “Bloody Friday” saw many of the world’s stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.

2014 – The China National Space Administration launches an experimental lunar mission, Chang’e 5-T1,

which will loop behind the Moon and return to Earth.