Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot
The spacecraft was testing a new plastic-based rocket fuel when it disintegrated over California's Mojave Desert. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury died in the...
October 31 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
2014
2011
The world's population officially reached 7 billion people
MajorThe United Nations designated October 31 as the day humanity hit this milestone, with a baby girl born in the Philippines symbolically chosen as the 7...
2000
Soyuz TM-31 launched, beginning continuous human presence in space that continues today
This Russian spacecraft carried the first crew to the International Space Station for a long-duration stay, beginning an unbroken chain of human habit...
1992
Pope John Paul II formally admitted the Catholic Church was wrong to condemn Galileo 359 years earlier
The Vatican finally acknowledged that Galileo was right about the Earth revolving around the Sun, and the Church was wrong to try him for heresy in 16...
1941
Mount Rushmore was officially completed after 14 years of construction
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum died seven months before the monument's completion, leaving his son Lincoln to finish the massive presidential faces. The orig...
1920
A baby girl was found abandoned in a cemetery on Halloween and grew up to become a successful actress
Mary Ann Bevan was discovered in a Los Angeles cemetery wrapped in newspapers. She was adopted and later became a minor Hollywood actress in the 1940s...
1864
Nevada became the 36th U.S. state, rushed into the Union to help ratify the 13th Amendment
President Lincoln needed Nevada's electoral votes and its support for abolishing slavery, so it was admitted just eight days before the presidential e...
1517
Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, sparking the Protestant Reformation
MajorThe German monk's list of grievances against the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences was intended as an academic debate invitation. Instead, it igni...