Soviet cosmonauts perish in reentry disaster

June 30, 1520: Faced with an Aztec revolt against their rule, forces under the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés fight their way out of Tenochtitlan at heavy cost. Known to the Spanish as La Noche Triste, or “the Night of Sadness,” many soldiers drowned in Lake Texcoco when the vessel carrying them and Aztec treasures hoarded […]

After a slow two-day march, the wounded soldiers from the Battle of the Little Big Horn reach the steamboat Far West. The Far West had been leased by the U.S. Army for the duration of the 1876 campaign against the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes of the Northern Plains. Under the command of the […]

In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future. The event became known as the Night of the Long Knives. The leadership of the Nazi Storm Troopers (SA), whose four million members […]

On June 30, 1953, workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, watch as the first completed Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would become an American icon, rolls off the assembly line. It was one of just 300 Corvettes made that year. The idea for the Corvette originated with General Motors’ pioneering designer Harley […]

Misty Copeland becomes the first African American woman promoted to principal dancer in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theatre, one of the leading classical ballet companies in the world.   Growing up one of six siblings in an unstable home environment in Southern California, Copeland quickly earned prodigy status despite not starting ballet […]