TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Monday, April 24, the 114th day of 2017. There are 251 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On April 24, 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when his Soyuz 1 spacecraft smashed into the Earth after his parachutes failed to deploy properly during re-entry; he was the first human spaceflight fatality.
On this date
1792 — Capt. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle began composing “War Song for the Rhine Army,” later known as “La Marseillaise,” the national anthem of France. 1800 — Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress. 1898 — Spain declared war on the United States. (The United States responded in kind the next day.) 1915 — In what’s considered the start of the Armenian genocide, the Ottoman Empire began rounding up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople. 1916 — Some 1,600 Irish nationalists launched the Easter Rising by seizing several key sites in Dublin. (The rising was put down by British forces five days later.) 1932 — In the Free State of Prussia, the Nazi Party gained a plurality of seats in parliamentary elections. 1953 — British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. 1962 — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, using NASA’s Echo 1 balloon satellite to bounce a video image from Camp Parks, California, to Westford, Massachusetts. 1970 — The People’s Republic of China launched its first satellite, which kept transmitting a song, “The East Is Red.” 1980 — The United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen. 2007 — European astronomers announced they had found a potentially habitable planet outside the solar system.
Five years ago
President Barack Obama went after the college vote, telling students at the University of North Carolina that he and first lady Michelle Obama had “been in your shoes” and didn’t pay off their student loans until eight years ago.
Republican Mitt Romney swept primaries in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York.
One year ago
President Barack Obama, visiting Hannover, Germany, defended international trade deals in the face of domestic and foreign opposition, saying it was “indisputable” that they strengthened the economy and made American businesses more competitive.
British astronaut Tim Peake completed the London Marathon from 250 miles above the Earth, running the 26.2-mile race harnessed to a treadmill aboard the International Space Station, with a simulation of the route through London’s streets playing on an iPad. (Peake finished in 3 hours and 35 minutes.)
Today’s Birthdays
Movie director-producer Richard Donner is 87. Actress Shirley MacLaine is 83. Author Sue Grafton is 77. Actress-singer-director Barbra Streisand is 75. Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is 75. Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 74. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 72. The prime minister of Ireland, or Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, is 66. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 64. Rock singer-musician Jack Blades (Night Ranger) is 63. Actor Michael O’Keefe is 62. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 60. Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 53. Actor Djimon Hounsou is 53. Actor Aidan Gillen is 49. Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez is 46. Country-rock musician Brad Morgan (Drive-By Truckers) is 46. Rock musician Brian Marshall (Creed; Alter Bridge) is 44. Actor Eric Balfour is 40. Country singer Danny Gokey is 37. Singer Kelly Clarkson is 35. Actor Joe Keery is 25. Actor Jack Quaid is 25. Actor Doc Shaw is 25.
Thought for today ‘That is happiness; to be dissolved into something completely great.’ Willa Cather novelist (1873-1947)