On this day

73 YEARS AGO (1945)

Our front page declared UK and US scientists had harnessed “the basic power of the universe” – atomic energy in the form of a bomb – to hit Japan.

42 YEARS AGO (1976)

NASA’s Viking 2 went into orbit around Mars as part of its mission to send back photographs of suitable landing sites.

31 YEARS AGO (1987)

American Lynne Cox, 30, became the first person to swim across the 2.7-mile Bering Strait between the US and the Soviet Union.