NEA DATEBOOK

Today is the 51st day of 2023 and the 62nd day of winter.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1792, President George Washington signed into law the Postal Service Act, establishing the U.S. Post Office Department.

In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits aboard Project Mercury’s Friendship 7 spacecraft.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the core module of the Mir space station.

In 2003, a pyrotechnics display during a Great White concert set fire to the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Ansel Adams (1902-1984), photographer; Robert Altman (1925-2006), filmmaker; Richard Matheson (1926-2013), author/screenwriter; Sidney Poitier (1927-2022), actor; Nancy Wilson (1937-2018), singer/actress; Patty Hearst (1954- ), actress/socialite; Charles Barkley (1963- ), basketball player/broadcaster; Cindy Crawford (1966- ), fashion model; Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), musician; Lili Taylor (1967- ), actress; Trevor Noah (1984- ), comedian; Miles Teller (1987- ), actor; Rihanna (1988- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: More NASA astronauts (31 people, as of 2023) have come from New York than from any other state.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1998, 15-year-old Tara Lipinski became the youngest person in history to win a singles figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to.” — Trevor Noah, “Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood”

TODAY’S MOON: New moon (Feb. 20).