TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

Oct. 4, 1957

The Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

ON THIS DATE

1970

Rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room.

1976

Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over an obscene joke he’d made that was derogatory to Black people.

1991

26 nations, including the United States, signed the Madrid Protocol, which imposed a 50-year ban on oil exploration and mining in Antarctica.