Also on this day in presidential history, Richard Nixon signs a bill authorizing $5.5 million in funding to develop a space shuttle. The space shuttle represented a giant leap forward in the technology of space travel. Designed to function more like a cost-efficient "reusable" airplane than a one-use-only rocket-launched capsules, the shuttle afforded NASA pilots and scientists more time in space with which to conduct space-related research. NASA launched Columbia, the first space shuttle, in 1981.
Also on This Day
- Lead Story
- Golden Gate Bridge is born, 1933
- American Revolution
- Benedict Arnold captures and destroys Richmond, 1781
- Automotive
- Construction begins on Golden Gate Bridge, 1933
- Civil War
- Star of the West leaves for Fort Sumter, 1861
- Cold War
- Eisenhower proposes new Middle East policy, 1957
- Crime
- The United Mine Workers Killings, 1970
- Disaster
- Landslides kill 33 in California, 1982
- General Interest
- First divorce in the colonies, 1643
- Dreyfus Affair in France, 1895
- Kamikaze pilots get first order, 1945
- Prague Spring begins in Czechoslovakia, 1968
- Pol Pot renames Cambodia, 1976
- Former Speaker Thomas P. Tip O'Neill dies, 1994
- Hollywood
- Sonny Bono killed in skiing accident, 1998
- Literary
- Alexandre Dumas pere fights a duel, 1825
- Music
- The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" becomes hip-hop's first Top 40 hit, 1980
- Old West
- House resolves to stop sharing Oregon, 1846
- Presidential
- Truman delivers his Fair Deal speech, 1949
- Nixon launches the space shuttle program, 1972
- Sports
- New York Yankees announce purchase of Babe Ruth, 1920
- Vietnam War
- Amphibious operations conducted in the Mekong Delta, 1967
- Lodge succeeds Harriman as chief negotiator, 1969
- World War I
- First conscription bill is introduced in British parliament, 1916
- World War II
- Soviets recognize pro-Soviet Polish Provisional Government, 1945
Jan 5, 1972:
Nixon launches the space shuttle program
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This Week in History, Jan 5 - Jan 11
- Jan 05, 1949
- Truman delivers his Fair Deal speech
- Jan 05, 1972
- Nixon launches the space shuttle program
- Jan 06, 1759
- Two future presidents marry respective sweethearts
- Jan 06, 1941
- Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks of Four Freedoms
- Jan 07, 1999
- Clinton's Senate impeachment trial begins
- Jan 08, 1815
- Jackson leads troops to victory at New Orleans
- Jan 08, 1918
- Wilson delivers Fourteen Points speech
- Jan 09, 1913
- Richard M. Nixon is born
- Jan 10, 1941
- FDR introduces the lend-lease program
- Jan 10, 1967
- Johnson asks for more funding for Vietnam War
- Jan 11, 1908
- Roosevelt dedicates the Grand Canyon as a national monument
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