TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, OCT. 4, the 277th day of 2018. There are 88 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY: On this date in 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.
In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pa., resulting in heavy American casualties.
In 1861, during the Civil War, the United States Navy authorized construction of the first ironclad ship, the USS Monitor.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps.
In 1957, Jimmy Hoffa was elected president of the Teamsters Union.
In 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 3, a space probe that transmitted images of the far side of the moon.
In 1960, an Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-188A Electra crashed on takeoff from Boston’s Logan International Airport, killing all but 10 of the 72 people on board. In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room. In 1989, Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat, suffering a hoof ailment, was humanely destroyed at age 19.
In 1990, for the first time in nearly six decades, German lawmakers met in the Reichstag for the first meeting of reunified Germany’s parliament.
In 2002, “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh received a 20-year sentence after a sobbing plea for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Va. In a federal court in Boston, a laughing Richard Reid pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives in his shoes (the British citizen was later sentenced to life in prison).
In 2004, the SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth’s atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists. Pioneering astronaut Gordon Cooper died in Ventura, Calif., at age 77.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 89. Actress Felicia Farr is 86. Pro and College Football Hallof-Famer Sam Huff is 84. Authors Roy Blount Jr. and Anne Rice, and actress Lori Saunders (TV: “Petticoat Junction”) are 77. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tony La Russa is 74. Actor Clifton Davis is 73. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and actress Susan Sarandon are 72. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 70. Playwright Lee Blessing and actor Armand Assante are 69. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 68. Actor Christoph Waltz is 62. Actor Bill Fagerbakke, music producer Russell Simmons and actress Kyra Schon (Film: “Night of the Living Dead”) are 61. Actress-singer Wendy Makkena is 60. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 59. Country musician Gregg “Hobie” Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 58. Actor David W. Harper and singer Jon Secada are 57. TV personality John Melendez is 53. Actor-comedian Jerry Minor and actor Liev Schreiber are 51. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 49. Country singer-musician Heidi Newfield is 48. Singer-guitarist M. Ward (She & Him) is 45. Actress Alicia Silverstone is 42. Actress Dana Davis, rock musician Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs), actor Phillip Glasser and rock singer-musician Marc Roberge (O.A.R.) are 40. Actor Brandon Barash and actress Rachael Leigh Cook are 39. Actors Tim Peper and Jimmy Workman are 38. Bassist Cubbie Fink is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jessica Benson (3lw) and actor Michael Charles Roman are 31. Actress Melissa Benoist and NBA All-Star Derrick Rose are 30. Actress Leigh-Anne Pinnock (Little Mix) is 27. Actor Ryan Scott Lee is 22.