1.
1896 Summer Olympics
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The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee, which had created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece. Winners were given a medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has converted these to gold and silver, ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. The United States won the most gold medals,11, host nation Greece won the most medals overall,46, the highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spyridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, the main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, where athletics and wrestling took place, other venues included the Neo Phaliron Velodrome for cycling, and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the athletes were aligned on the infield. After a speech by the president of the committee, Crown Prince Constantine. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date, the Panathenaic Stadium, the only Olympic stadium used in the 1800s, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, during the 19th century, several small-scale sports festivals across Europe were named after the Ancient Olympic Games. The 1870 Olympics at the Panathenaic stadium, which had been refurbished for the occasion, had an audience of 30,000 people. In 1890, Coubertin wrote an article in La Revue Athletique, Coubertin also took inspiration from the earlier Greek games organised under the name of Olympics by businessman and philanthropist Evangelis Zappas in 1859,1870 and 1875. This the Greek government did despite the fact that the cost of refurbishing the stadium in marble had already been funded in full by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier. With deep feeling towards Baron de Coubertins courteous petition, I send him, on 18 June 1894, Coubertin organised a congress at the Sorbonne, Paris, to present his plans to representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposals acceptance by the congress, a date for the first modern Olympic Games needed to be chosen, Coubertin suggested that the Games be held concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris. Concerned that a waiting period might lessen public interest, congress members opted instead to hold the inaugural Games in 1896. With a date established, members of the congress turned their attention to the selection of a host city and it remains a mystery how Athens was finally chosen to host the inaugural Games
2.
1903 World Series
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The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. Pittsburg pitcher Sam Leever injured his shoulder while trap-shooting, so his teammate Deacon Phillippe pitched five complete games, Phillippe won three of his games, but it was not enough to overcome the club from the new American League. Boston pitchers Bill Dinneen and Cy Young led Boston to victory, in Game 1, Phillippe struck out ten Boston batters. The next day, Dinneen bettered that mark, striking out eleven Pittsburg batters in Game 2, honus Wagner, bothered by injuries, batted only 6 for 27 in the Series and committed six errors. The shortstop was deeply distraught by his performance, the following spring, Wagner refused to send his portrait to a Hall of Fame for batting champions. I was too bum last year, he wrote, I was a joke in that Boston-Pittsburg Series. What does it profit a man to hammer along and make a few hits when they are not needed only to fall down when it comes to a pinch, I would be ashamed to have my picture up now. Due to overflow crowds at the Exposition Park games in Allegheny City, if a ball rolled under a rope in the outfield that held spectators back. Seventeen ground-rule triples were hit in the four games played at the stadium, in the series, Boston came back from a three games to one deficit, winning the final four games to capture the title. Such a large comeback would not happen again until the Pirates came back to defeat the Washington Senators in the 1925 World Series, much was made of the influence of Bostons Royal Rooters, who traveled to Exposition Park and sang their theme song Tessie to distract the opposing players. Boston wound up winning three out of four games in Allegheny City, Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss added his share of the gate receipts to the players share, so the losing teams players actually finished with a larger individual share than the winning teams. The Series brought the new American League prestige and proved its best could beat the best of the National League, thus strengthening the demand for future World Series competitions. In 1901, Ban Johnson, president of the Western League, Johnson and fellow owners raided the National League and signed away many star players, including Cy Young and Jimmy Collins. Johnson had a list of 46 National Leaguers he targeted for the American League, by 1902, all, the constant raiding, however, scotched the idea of a championship between the two leagues. However, Johnson had spoken of putting a team in Pittsburg and even attempted to raid the Pirates roster in August 1902, which soured Dreyfuss. At the end of the season, however, the Pirates played a group of American League All-Stars in an exhibition series. The leagues finally called a truce in the winter of 1902–03, the following season, the Boston Americans and Pittsburg Pirates had secured their respective championship pennants by September. That August, Dreyfuss challenged the American League to a championship series
3.
1920 APFA season
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The 1920 APFA season was the inaugural season of the American Professional Football Association—renamed the National Football League in 1922. The league was formed on August 20,1920, by independent professional American football teams from Ohio, at the meeting, they first called their new league the American Professional Football Conference. A second organizational meeting was held in Canton on September 17, at the meeting, the name of the league became the American Professional Football Association. Four other teams joined the Association during the year. Meanwhile, Jim Thorpe of the Canton Bulldogs was named the APFAs first president, scheduling was left up to each team. There were wide variations, both in the number of games played and in the number played against other Association members. Thus, no standings were maintained. In addition, football teams in the APFA also faced independent football teams not associated with the league, for instance, the Rochester Jeffersons played a schedule consisting mostly of local teams from their local sandlot circuit and the NYPFL, not the APFA. The Akron Pros ended the season as the undefeated team in the Association. Despite this, two one-loss teams—the Decatur Staleys and Buffalo All-Americans—who both tied Akron that year made cases for a co-championship. At the league meetings in Akron on April 30,1921, the Pros were awarded the Brunswick-Balke Collender Cup for the 1920 season, according to modern NFL tie-breaking rules, the 1920 Buffalo All-Americans would be co-champions. They would be tied with the Akron Pros in win percentage,9.5 wins to 1.5 losses, both teams beating out the Staleys, who would have a season that counted 11 wins to 2 losses. Prior to the APFA, there were several other loose, professional organizations, the representatives then contacted other major professional teams and invited them to a meeting for September 17. Representatives of the Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons could not attend the meeting, under the new league structure, teams created their schedules dynamically as the season progressed, so there were no minimum or maximum number of games needed to be played. Also, representatives of each team voted to determine the winner of the APFA trophy, the regular-season schedule was not fixed but was created dynamically by each team as the season progressed. The following table was formed by NFL History, which used contemporary newspapers, the first game involving an APFA team occurred on September 26, when the Rock Island Independents beat the St. Paul Ideals 48–0. The first official game between APFA members occurred on October 3, when the Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles 14-0, the Triangles Lou Partlow scored the leagues first touchdown and George Hobby Kinderline kicked the first extra point. An historic marker placed by the Ohio Historical Society at Triangle Park in Dayton marks the location of that first ever game, the final game of the season was a 14–14 tie between the Racine Cardinals and the Chicago Staleys on December 19,1920
4.
1930 FIFA World Cup
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The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for mens national association football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July 1930, all matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament. Few European teams chose to participate because of the difficulty of travelling to South America, the teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the United States, Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history, while American goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas posted the first official clean sheet in the tournament. Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and Yugoslavia each won their groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary and Uruguay all lodged applications to host the event. Uruguays bid became the clear selection after all the other countries withdrew their bids, the first World Cup was the only one without qualification. Every country affiliated with FIFA was invited to compete, and given a deadline of 28 February 1930 to accept, plenty of interest was shown by nations in the Americas, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States all entered. A total of seven South American teams participated, more than in any subsequent World Cup Finals. However, because of the long and costly trip by ship across the Atlantic Ocean, some refused to countenance travel to South America in any circumstances, and no European entries were received before the February deadline. This was rejected by the FA Committee on 18 November 1929, two months before the start of the tournament, no team from Europe had officially entered. FIFA president Jules Rimet intervened, and eventually four European teams made the trip by sea, Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia. The Romanians, managed by Constantin Rădulescu and coached by their captain Rudolf Wetzer and Octav Luchide and he selected the squad personally, and negotiated with employers to ensure that the players would still have jobs upon their return. The French entered at the intervention of Rimet, but neither Frances star defender Manuel Anatol nor the teams regular coach Gaston Barreau could be persuaded to make the trip. The Belgians participated at the instigation of German-Belgian FIFA vice-president Rodolphe Seeldrayers, the Romanians boarded the SS Conte Verde at Genoa, the French were picked up at Villefranche-sur-Mer on 21 June 1930, and the Belgians embarked at Barcelona. The Conte Verde carried Rimet, the trophy and the three designated European referees, the Belgians Jean Langenus and Henri Christophe, along with Thomas Balway, a Parisian who may have been English. The Brazilian team were picked up when the boat docked in Rio de Janeiro on 29 June before arriving in Uruguay on 4 July, Yugoslavia travelled via the mail steamship Florida from Marseille. In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia there were doubts about their participation at first, since the Croatians decided to boycott the national team, King Alexander I did not want to finance the whole idea, but in the end they found a solution
5.
1991 FIFA Women's World Cup
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The 1991 FIFA Womens World Cup was the inaugural FIFA Womens World Cup, the world championship for womens national association football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 November to 30 November 1991, FIFA, footballs international governing body selected China as host nation as Guangdong had hosted a prototype world championship three years earlier, the 1988 FIFA Womens Invitation Tournament. Matches were played in the capital, Guangzhou, as well as in Foshan, Jiangmen. The competition was sponsored by Mars, Incorporated, with FIFA still reluctant to bestow their World Cup brand, the tournament was officially known as the 1st FIFA World Championship for Womens Football for the M&Ms Cup. It was won by the United States, whose captain April Heinrichs formed a forward line dubbed the triple–edged sword with Carin Jennings, Jennings was named player of the tournament while Akers-Stahls ten goals won the Golden Shoe. The United States beat Norway 2–1 in the final in front of a crowd of 65,000 people at Guangzhous Tianhe Stadium, total attendance was 510,000, an average per match of 19,615. In the opening match at the stadium, Norway had been defeated 4–0 by hosts China. Chinese defender Ma Li scored the first goal in Womens World Cup history, while goalkeeper Zhong Honglian, also of China, the 12 qualified teams were divided into three groups of four. The top two teams and the two best third-place finishers from the three advanced to the knockout round of eight teams. Twelve teams qualified for the 1991 FIFA Womens World Cup final tournament, each of the six FIFA confederations had at least one representative. For a list of the squads that disputed the final tournament, for the first time in FIFA competition, six female officials were included. All functioned as assistant referees, except for Cláudia Vasconcelos who took charge of the third place play–off, becoming the first woman to referee a match sanctioned by FIFA
6.
1994 Brickyard 400
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The inaugural Brickyard 400 was held on Saturday, August 6,1994, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race marked the race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. It was first race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway besides the Indianapolis 500 since the Harvest Classic in 1916, the race featured the largest crowd in NASCAR history, and a then NASCAR record purse of $3.2 million. Second-year driver, 23-year-old Jeff Gordon from nearby Pittsboro, was cheered on by the crowd to a popular win. It was his second career NASCAR Winston Cup win, and thrust the young Gordon into a superstar on the racing circuit, the race was a culmination of over two years of preparation, and decades of speculation. While the event was looked on with enormous anticipation and significant media attention, the nature of the Indy 500. Despite some mild complaints, the event was considered a huge success, the race featured two former Indy 500 winners. Foyt came out of retirement to participate, which would be his final Winston Cup start, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909, and the first Indianapolis 500 was held in 1911. It became a tradition that the Indy 500 was the race held at the track annually. With the exception of a Labor Day race meet in 1916, as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series began to grow in stature and popularity, speculation began to grow in the 1980s and early 1990s about the possibility of holding a race at Indy. From 1971-1980, NASCAR held races at Ontario Motor Speedway, which was built as a replica of Indianapolis, with their experiences at Ontario, it was generally presumed that the stock cars would find Indys nearly identical layout equally competitive. Around 1968, USAC proposed a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the USAC Stock Car division and it was to be called the Tony Hulman Classic, but Hulman and the Speedway management politely declined the offer. In 1980, due to a tax dispute with the City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County, a few weeks later, however, the parties reconciled, and the plan to move the race was withdrawn. When Cloutier died in December 1989, Tony George was named the president of the Speedway, upon his appointment, George immediately began taking the Speedway in new business directions. On September 24,1991, A. J. Foyt filmed a commercial for Craftsman tools at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While filming in the area, Foyt, and Speedway president Tony George decided to take Foyts NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car for a few laps around the track. Foyt was the first driver to do so, and later on, the event was not planned, and had no implications, but was an unusual sight, and stirred up some mild interest and speculation for the future. It was apparently not the first time Foyt had driven a car at the track
7.
1st Academy Awards
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AMPAS president Douglas Fairbanks hosted the show. Tickets cost $5,270 people attended the event and the ceremony lasted fifteen minutes. Awards were created by Louis B, Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. It is the only Academy Awards ceremony not to be broadcast either on radio or television, during the ceremony, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards in twelve categories. Winners were announced three months before the live event, some nominations were announced without reference to a specific film, such as for Ralph Hammeras and Nugent Slaughter, who received nominations in the now defunct category of Engineering Effects. Unlike later ceremonies, an actor or director could be awarded for works within a calendar year. Emil Jannings, for example, was given the Best Actor award for his work in both The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command, moreover, Charlie Chaplin and Warner Brothers each received an Honorary Award. Major winners at the ceremony included 7th Heaven and Sunrise, which received three awards, and Wings, receiving two awards. Among its honors, Sunrise won the award for Unique and Artistic Picture and these two categories at the time were seen as equally the top award of the night intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior film making. The next year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was established by Louis B. Mayer, originator of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, which then would be joined into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, mayers purpose in creating the award was to unite the five branches of the film industry, including actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. Mayer commented on the creation of the awards I found that the best way to handle was to hang medals all over them, if I got them cups and awards theyd kill them to produce what I wanted. Thats why the Academy Award was created, Mayer asked Cedric Gibbons, art director of MGM, to design an Academy Award trophy. Nominees were notified through a telegram in February 1928, in August 1928, Mayer contacted the Academy Central Board of Judges to decide winners. The ceremony was held on May 16,1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, located in Los Angeles and it consisted of a private dinner with thirty-six banquet tables, where 270 people attended and tickets cost five dollars. Actors and actresses arrived at the hotel in luxury vehicles, where many attended to encourage celebrities. The ceremony was not broadcast on radio or television, and was hosted by AMPAS director Fairbanks, winners were announced three months before the ceremony. Three categories were eliminated for subsequent presentations, Best Engineering Effects, Best Title Writing, the larger film producers received the preponderance of awards, Fox Films Corporation, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Radio-Keith-Orpheum and Warner Brothers Production
8.
First Bulgarian Empire
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The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed in southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded circa 681 when Bulgar tribes led by Asparukh moved to the north-eastern Balkans, there they secured Byzantine recognition of their right to settle south of the Danube by defeating – possibly with the help of local South Slavic tribes – the Byzantine army led by Constantine IV. At the height of its power, Bulgaria spread from the Danube Bend to the Black Sea, as the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered into a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantiums chief antagonist to its north, resulting in several wars, Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which also led to the eventual adoption of Christianity in 864. After the disintegration of the Avar Khaganate, the country expanded its territory northwest to the Pannonian Plain, later the Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans, and achieved a decisive victory over the Magyars, forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia. During the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines, thereafter, he was recognized with the title of Emperor, and proceeded to expand the state to its greatest extent. After the annihilation of the Byzantine army in the battle of Anchialus in 917, the Byzantines, however, eventually recovered, and in 1014, under Basil II, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire, and it was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185. After the adoption of Christianity, Bulgaria became the center of Slavic Europe. Old Bulgarian became the lingua franca of much of Eastern Europe, in 927, the fully independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was officially recognized. The Bulgars and other tribes in the empire gradually adopted an essentially foreign Slavic language. Since the late 9th century, the names Bulgarians and Bulgarian gained prevalence and became permanent designations for the local population, the First Bulgarian Empire became known simply as Bulgaria since its recognition by the Byzantine Empire in 681. Some historians use the terms Danube Bulgaria, First Bulgarian State, during its early existence, the country was also called the Bulgar state or Bulgar qaghanate. Between 864 and 917/927, the country was known as the Principality of Bulgaria or Knyazhestvo Bulgaria, in English language sources, the country is often known as the Bulgarian Empire. The eastern Balkan Peninsula was originally inhabited by the Thracians who were a group of Proto-Indo-European tribes, the whole region as far north as the Danube River was gradually incorporated into the Roman Empire by the 1st century AD. The decline of the Roman Empire after the 3rd century AD, nonetheless, it never relinquished the claim to the whole region up to the Danube. A series of administrative, legislative, military and economic reforms somewhat improved the situation, the group of Slavs that came to be known as the South Slavs was divided into Antes and Sclaveni who spoke the same language. The Slavic incursions in the Balkans increased during the half of Justinian Is reign and while these were initially pillaging raids
9.
European Parliament election, 1979
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The 1979 European elections were parliamentary elections held across all 9 European Community member states. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the European Parliament, seats in the Parliament had been allocated to the states according to population, and in some cases were divided into constituencies, but members sat according to political groups. The Treaty of Rome which established the Communities specified that the European Parliament must be elected by universal suffrage using a voting system. The Council of the European Union was responsible for setting up the elections, as a stop-gap measure, members were appointed to the Parliament by the member states from their own national parliaments, as they had done since the Common Assembly. The Parliament was unhappy with this and threatened to take the Council to the European Court of Justice, the Council eventually agreed to elections and the first European Parliament elections were held in 1979 after proposals were put forward in the mid 1970s. The former Social Democrat German Chancellor Willy Brandt took an international campaign to France, Italy, Luxembourg, in June, the 410 members were elected by universal suffrage. At the time there were no rules on the system of election to be used, the electorate took little interest but average voter turnout was 63%. The lowest turn out was in the United Kingdom with 32. 2%, aside from Belgium and Luxembourg, where voting is compulsory, the highest turnout was in Italy with 84. 9%. Socialist parties working together under the Europe-wide Confederation of Socialist Parties won the most seats, christian Democrat parties united within the pan-European European Peoples Party came second, with the resultant group having 107 MEPs. The largest third force was the Conservative European Democrats with 64, the Liberal Democrats had 40 seats, although their candidate was elected as President. The groups formed were loose coalitions based on the groups founded in previous years, louise Weiss, who was 86 at the time, was found to be Parliaments oldest member and hence presided over the chamber while the election of the President took place. She dealt with the interruption swiftly, the confrontation was seen as one of her finest hours and she later confided that, as a grandmother, she was used to dealing with recalcitrant youngsters. In the first ballot, Veil secured 183 of the 380 votes cast – eight short of the majority needed. The next closest contender was Zagari with 118 votes, then Amendola with 44, de la Malène with 26, Bonino and de la Malène dropped out and Veil secured an absolute majority in the second ballot with 192 of the 377 votes cast. Veil was elected as the first President of the elected Parliament, previously the Parliament was a weak consultative assembly, the members of which were part-time. With the elections the new body of MEPs were full-time, energetic, as soon as the Parliament was established the old guard MEPs of the larger parties sought to raise the bar at which a European Parliament political group could be formed. This move was blocked by smaller groups working together and filibustering the proposal. The ties formed at this time laid the foundations of the Rainbow group, an alliance of left-wing and green parties which later became the European Greens–European Free Alliance group
10.
Explorer 1
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Explorer 1 was the first satellite of the United States, launched as part of its participation in the International Geophysical Year. The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year, the Soviet Unions Sputnik 1 and 2, beginning the Cold War Space Race between the two nations. Explorer 1 was launched on January 31,1958 at 22,48 Eastern Time atop the first Juno booster from LC-26 at the Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. It was the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt and it remained in orbit until 1970, and has been followed by more than 90 scientific spacecraft in the Explorer series. Explorer 1 was given Satellite Catalog Number 4, and the Harvard designation 1958 Alpha 1, the forerunner to the modern International Designator. Earth satellite program began in 1954 as a joint U. S. Army and U. S. Navy proposal, called Project Orbiter, to put a scientific satellite into orbit during the International Geophysical Year. The proposal, using a military Redstone missile, was rejected in 1955 by the Eisenhower administration in favor of the Navys Project Vanguard, using a booster advertised as more civilian in nature. Following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 on October 4,1957, the Jupiter-C design used for the launch had already been flight-tested in nose cone reentry tests for the Jupiter IRBM, and was modified into Juno I. Working closely together, ABMA and JPL completed the job of modifying the Jupiter-C, however, before work was completed, the Soviet Union launched a second satellite, Sputnik 2, on November 3,1957. The U. S. Navys attempt to put the first U. S. satellite into orbit failed with the launch of the Vanguard TV3 on December 6,1957. Explorer 1 was designed and built by the California Institute of Technologys JPL under the direction of Dr. William H. Pickering and it was the second satellite to carry a mission payload. The total weight of the satellite was 13.37 kilograms, in comparison, the first Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 weighed 83.6 kg. The instrument section at the front end of the satellite and the empty scaled-down fourth-stage rocket casing orbited as a single unit, data from the scientific instruments was transmitted to the ground by two antennas. This was an early time frame in the development of transistor technology. A total of 29 transistors were used in Explorer 1, plus additional ones in the Armys micrometeorite amplifier, electrical power was provided by mercury chemical batteries that made up approximately 40 percent of the payload weight. The external skin of the instrument section was sandblasted stainless steel with white stripes, the final coloration was determined by studies of shadow–sunlight intervals based on firing time, trajectory, orbit, and inclination. The Explorer 1 payload consisted of the Iowa Cosmic Ray Instrument without a data recorder which was not modified in time to make it onto the spacecraft. The real-time data received on the ground was very sparse and puzzling showing normal counting rates
11.
Gemini 4
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Gemini 4 was the second manned space flight in NASAs Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth manned American spaceflight, astronauts James McDivitt and Edward H. White, II circled the Earth 66 times in four days, making it the first US flight to approach the five-day flight of the Soviet Vostok 5. The highlight of the mission was the first space walk by an American, during which White floated free outside the spacecraft, tethered to it, both of these accomplishments helped the United States overcome the Soviet Unions early lead in the Space Race. The four-day, 66-orbit flight would approach but not break the record set by the Soviet Vostok 5 in June 1963. Subsequent Gemini flights would be longer, to prove endurance exceeding the required to fly to the Moon. A second objective was the first American extra-vehicular activity, known popularly as a space walk, the first space walk had already been performed by Soviet Alexei Leonov on Voskhod 2 in March 1965. NASA moved up the spacewalk from the schedule, to demonstrate that the US was gaining on the early lead taken by the Soviets in what was known as the Space Race. A third objective was for Gemini 4 to attempt the first space rendezvous, the broadcast of the launch was itself historic. For the first time an international audience, from 12 European nations, Flight control shifted from Cape Kennedy to Houston as soon as the vehicle cleared the launch tower. Except for a few moments of pogo oscillation, the launch came off perfectly, on the first orbit, McDivitt attempted to rendezvous with the spent Titan second stage. This was unsuccessful for a number of reasons, NASA engineers had not yet worked out the idiosyncrasies of orbital mechanics involved in rendezvous, simply thrusting the spacecraft toward the target changed its orbital altitude and velocity relative to the target. When McDivitt tried this, he found himself moving away and downward, as the retrograde thrust lowered his orbit, the stage was dumping its residual propellant, causing it to move around in various directions relative to the Gemini. There were only two running lights on the stage, which made it hard at times for McDivitt to determine its orientation, McDivitt concluded that a rendezvous target should have at least three lights. There was no radar on board Gemini 4 to give a range to the target, so the astronauts had to rely on their visual depth perception to estimate the range. Initially McDivitt estimated the distance at 400–500 feet, while White believed it was closer, at the worst point, McDivitt estimated it was about a half mile away, while Whites estimate was three-quarters of a mile. McDivitt estimated he was able to get as close as 200 feet, after expending almost half his thruster fuel, McDivitt finally gave up, in order to concentrate on the more important EVA objective. After the rendezvous, Gemini 4s orbit was now 89.2 by 155 nautical miles, twenty-two hours into the mission, Mission Control estimated the orbit would decay to 81 by 125.7 nautical miles at the end of 63 revolutions. After a rest, the pair finished performing the checklist for the EVA, flying over Carnarvon, Australia, they began to depressurize the cabin
12.
Lockheed Vega
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The Lockheed Vega is an American six-passenger high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to the rugged and very long-range design. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic single-handed in one, designed by John Knudsen Northrop and Gerard Vultee, both of whom would later form their own companies, the aircraft was originally intended to serve with Lockheeds own airline routes. They set out to build an aircraft that was not only rugged. Using a wooden fuselage, plywood covered cantilever wings and the best engine available. The fuselage was built from sheets of plywood, skinned over wooden ribs, the two fuselage halves were then nailed and glued over a separately constructed rib framework. With the fuselage constructed in this fashion, the wing spar couldnt cut through the fuselage and it was powered by the Wright Whirlwind air-cooled radial engine, which delivered 225 horsepower. The first Vega 1, named the Golden Eagle, flew from Lockheeds Los Angeles plant on July 4,1927 and it could cruise at a then-fast 120 mph, and had a top speed of 135 mph. The four-passenger load was considered too small for airline use, a number of private owners placed orders for the design, and by the end of 1928,68 of this original design had been produced. In the 1929 National Air Races in Cleveland, Vegas won every speed award, in 1928 Vega 5 Yankee Doodle was used to break transcontinental speed records. On August 19–20, Hollywood stunt flier Arthur C, on October 25, barnstormer and former mail pilot Charles B. D. Collyer broke the nonstop east to west record set in 1923 by the U. S. Army Air Service in 24 hours and 51 minutes. Trying to break the new West-to-East record on November 3, Collyer crashed near Prescott, Arizona, killing him, looking to improve the design, Lockheed delivered the Vega 5 in 1929. Adding the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine of 450 hp improved weights enough to allow two more seats to be added, a new NACA cowling increased cruise speed to 155 mph and top speed to 165 mph. The new six-seat configuration proved to be too small, and the 5 was purchased primarily for private aviation, a total of 64 Vega 5s were built. In 1931, the United States Army Air Corps bought two Vega 5s, one designated C-12 and one as the C-17, the C-17 had additional fuel tanks in the wings. The Vega could be difficult to land, in her memoir, Elinor Smith wrote that it had all the glide potential of a boulder falling off a mountain. On takeoff or landing, thered be almost no forward visibility whatsoever, a one-off special, based on the metal-fuselaged DL-1, was built by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation, and exported to the United Kingdom for Lt. Cmdr. It was initially registered in the UK as G-ABFE, then was re-registered as G-ABGK to incorporate Kidstons initials and this Vega was used by him to set a record-breaking time from the UK to South Africa in April 1931
