Person report

★05 Oct 1930
The British airship R101 crashed in France en route to India on its maiden overseas flight, killing 48 passengers and crew.

★03 Jun 1937
Nearly six months after Edward, Duke of Windsor, abdicated the British throne, he married American socialite Wallis Simpson in a private ceremony near Tours, France.

★12 Apr 1961
Aboard Vostok 3KA-3, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter outer space, completing one orbit in a time of 108 minutes.

★08 Dec 1963
After being struck by lightning while in a holding pattern, Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland, U.S., killing all 81 people on board.

★09 Dec 1965
A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in midwestern North America before crash landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania.

★12 Nov 1970
The Oregon Highway Division unsuccessfully attempted to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale near Florence, Oregon, with explosives.

★08 Jan 1977
Three bombs attributed to Armenian nationalists exploded across Moscow, killing 7 people and injuring 37.

★08 Jan 1978
Harvey Milk took office on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as the first openly gay man elected into public office in the United States.

★26 Aug 1978
Aboard the Soviet Soyuz 31 spacecraft, Sigmund Jähn became the first German in space.

★20 Dec 1987
The deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history occurred when the MV Doña Paz sank after colliding with an oil tanker on the Tablas Strait, in the Philippines, resulting in an estimated 4,000 deaths.

Historical data by Wikipedia Contributors CC BY-SA 3.0.