Top Space News Stories
Nine events particularly connected with space science and astronomy were among the 100 top stories that dominated news in the 20th Century, according to a poll of journalists and historians nationwide conducted by the Newseum museum of news and journalism at Arlington, Virginia, sponsored by the Freedom Forum foundation.
- 2 American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the moon in 1969
18 The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first space satellite, and the space race began in 1957
19 Albert Einstein presented his special theory of relativity, with general relativity theory to follow, in 1905
60 Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961
66 Alan Shepard became the first American in space in 1961
78 Max Planck proposed his quantum theory of energy in 1900
83 The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded killing its crew including school teacher Christa McAuliffe in 1986
90 John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth in 1962
92 Pathfinder landed on Mars, sending back astonishing photos, in 1997
According to the journalists and historians, the 20th century's top 100 news events were:
- United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki: Japan surrenders to end World War II - 1945
- American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon - 1969
- Japan bombs Pearl Harbor: United States enters World War II - 1941
- Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane - 1903
- Women win the vote - 1920
- President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas - 1963
- Horrors of Nazi Holocaust, concentration camps exposed - 1945
- World War I begins in Europe - 1914
- Brown v. Board of Education ends "separate but equal" school segregation - 1954
- U.S. stock market crashes: The Great Depression sets in - 1929
- Alexander Fleming discovers the first antibiotic, penicillin - 1928
- Structure of DNA discovered - 1953
- U.S.S.R dissolves, Mikhail Gorbachev resigns: Boris Yeltsin takes over - 1991
- President Richard M. Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal - 1974
- Germany invades Poland: World War II begins in Europe - 1939
- Russian revolution ends: Communists take over - 1917
- Henry Ford organizes the first major U.S. assembly line to produce Model T cars - 1913
- Soviets launch Sputnik, first space satellite: space race begins - 1957
- Albert Einstein presents special theory of relativity: general relativity theory to follow - 1905
- FDA approves birth-control pill - 1960
- Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine proven effective in University of Pittsburgh tests - 1953
- Adolf Hitler named Chancellor of Germany: Nazi Party begins to seize power - 1933
- Civil rights leader Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis, Tenn - 1968
- D-Day invasion marks the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe - 1944
- Deadly AIDS disease identified - 1981
- Congress passes landmark Civil Rights Act outlawing segregation - 1964
- Berlin Wall falls as East Germany lifts travel restrictions - 1989
- Television debuts in America at New York World's Fair - 1939
- Mao Tse-tung establishes Peoples Republic of China: Nationalists flee to Formosa (Taiwan) - 1949
- Charles Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic in first solo flight - 1927
- First mass market personal computers launched - 1977
- World Wide Web revolutionizes the Internet - 1989
- Scientists at Bell Labs invent the transistor - 1948
- FDR launches "New Deal:" sweeping federal economic, public works legislation to combat depression - 1933
- Cuban Missile Crisis threatens World War III - 1962
- "Unsinkable" Titanic, largest man-made structure, sinks - 1912
- Germany surrenders: V.E. Day celebrated - 1945
- Roe v. Wade decision legalizes abortion - 1973
- World War I ends with Germany's defeat - 1918
- First regular radio broadcasts begin in America - 1909
- Worldwide flu epidemic kills 20 million - 1918
- ENIAC accelerates digital computing - 1946
- Regular TV broadcasting begins in the United States - 1941
- Jackie Robinson breaks baseball's color barrier - 1947
- Israel achieves statehood - 1948
- Plastic invented: revolutionizes products, packaging - 1909
- Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott begins after Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white person - 1955
- Atomic bomb tested in New Mexico - 1945
- Apartheid ends in South Africa: law to treat races equally - 1993
- Civil rights march converges on Washington, D.C.: Martin Luther King gives "I Have A Dream" speech - 1963
- American scientists patent the computer chip - 1959
- Marconi transmits radio signal across the Atlantic - 1901
- White House sex scandal leads to impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton - 1998
- Sec. of State George Marshall proposes European recovery program, The Marshall Plan - 1947
- Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in California - 1968
- U.S. Senate rejects Versailles Treaty: dooms League of Nations - 1920
- Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" stimulates environmental protection movement - 1962
- British rock group The Beatles takes the United States by storm after debut on the Ed Sullivan show - 1964
- Congress passes Voting Rights Act, outlawing measures used to suppress minority votes - 1965
- Yuri Gagarin becomes first man in space - 1961
- First jet airplane takes flight - 1939
- U.S. combat troops arrive in South Vietnam: U.S. planes bomb North Vietnam - 1965
- North Vietnamese forces take over Saigon - 1975
- Manhattan Project begins secret work on atomic bomb: Fermi triggers first atomic chain reaction - 1942
- Congress strengthens "GI Bill of Rights" to help veterans - 1945
- Alan Shepard becomes first American in space - 1961
- Watergate scandal engulfs Nixon administration - 1973
- Earthquake hits San Francisco: "Paris of the West" burns - 1906
- United Nations is officially established - 1945
- Communists build wall to divide East and West Berlin - 1961
- Mohandas Gandhi begins leading nonviolent reform movement in India - 1920
- Standard Oil loses Supreme Court antitrust suit: monopolies suffer blow - 1911
- United States withdraws last ground troops from Vietnam - 1973
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization established - 1949
- Joseph Stalin begins forced modernization of the Soviet Union: resulting famines claim 25 million - 1928
- Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt beats incumbent President Herbert Hoover - 1932
- Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet Premier: begins era of "Glasnost" - 1985
- Max Planck proposes quantum theory of energy - 1900
- Scientists clone sheep, dubbed Dolly, in Scotland - 1997
- Congress passes interstate highway bill - 1956
- Panama Canal opens, linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - 1914
- Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" inaugurates modern women's rights movement - 1963
- The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes killing crew including school teacher Christa McAuliffe - 1986
- United States sends troops to defend South Korea - 1950
- Violence erupts at Democratic National Convention in Chicago - 1968
- Sigmund Freud publishes "The Interpretation of Dreams" - 1900
- China begins "Great Leap Forward" modernization program: estimated 20 million die in ensuing famine - 1958
- United States enters World War I - 1917
- Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs - a single-season record that would last for 34 years - 1927
- John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the earth - 1962
- North Vietnamese boats reportedly attack U.S. ships: Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin resolution - 1964
- Pathfinder lands on Mars, sending back astonishing photos - 1997
- Hitler launches "Kristallnacht," ordering Nazis to commit acts of violence against German Jews - 1938
- Winston Churchill designated Prime Minister of Great Britain - 1940
- Louise Brown, first "test-tube baby," born healthy - 1978
- Soviets blockade West Berlin: Western allies respond with massive airlift - 1948
- Bill Gates and Paul Allen start Microsoft Corp. to develop software for Altair computer - 1975
- Chernobyl nuclear plant leak results in eventual deaths of an estimated 7,000 - 1986
- Teacher John Scopes' trial pits creation against evolution in Tennessee - 1925
- The U.S. Surgeon General warns about smoking-related health hazards - 1964