Here are ten historical events that took place on April 12th, listed in chronological order:
- 1204: The Fourth Crusade captures and sacks Constantinople, leading to the decline of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1606: The Union Flag (commonly known as the Union Jack) is adopted as the national flag of Great Britain.
- 1776: During the American Revolutionary War, North Carolina’s Fourth Provincial Congress adopts the Halifax Resolves, the first official action in the American Colonies calling for independence from Britain.
- 1861: The American Civil War begins as Confederate forces attack Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
- 1912: The RMS Titanic hits an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 people.
- 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, and is succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.
- 1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into space and orbit the Earth aboard Vostok 1.
- 1981: The first launch of the Space Shuttle, Columbia, marks the beginning of the Space Shuttle program.
- 1992: The Euro Disney Resort, later renamed Disneyland Paris, officially opens in Marne-la-Vallée, France.
- 2009: North Korea launches its Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket in defiance of international pressure, resulting in widespread condemnation.
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Point 2 – Flag – and the consequences
https://www.google.com/search?q=eddie+izzard+flag&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU841AU841&oq=eddie+izzard+Flag&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgBEAAYgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyDQgEEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgFEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgGEAAYhgMYgAQYigXSAQkxODI3N2owajSoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f7a131cc,vid:UTduy7Qkvk8,st:0
Point 7 – Hard to say whether Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space, but he was very likely to be the first man to return from space. I wonder whether Leika the dog (who was the first mammal in space) is still up there. He’d be a fair age by now !
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…or She’d be a fair age by now … whatever .
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Never seen that Eddie Izzard video …. brilliant. I’m not a great fan, but his marathon running was so awe striking that I couldn’t fail to have massive admiration for him.
Now, Mike, sit yourself down. I have some bad news for you.
Laika, the dog sent into space by the Soviet Union, tragically did not survive her mission. Laika was a stray dog chosen for the Soviet space program’s mission Sputnik 2, launched on November 3, 1957. She was the first living creature to orbit the Earth. However, the technology to safely return living beings from orbit had not yet been developed.
Laika’s capsule lacked a re-entry plan, and it was expected that she would not survive the mission. The Soviet authorities reported initially that she had survived for several days in orbit before succumbing to overheating and stress. However, it was later revealed that she likely died from overheating and panic just a few hours into the flight due to a malfunction in the spacecraft’s thermal control system.
Laika’s mission sparked significant international controversy and raised ethical questions about the use of animals in scientific experiments, particularly concerning their welfare and the necessity of their sacrifice. Despite the tragic outcome of her mission, Laika’s contribution to space exploration is remembered, and she is honored as one of the pioneers of space travel.
But I love your point on Yuri!
The claim that he was the first man to return from space can be a bit misleading. Gagarin was indeed the first human to complete an orbit around the Earth, but he was not the first to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. Several astronauts and cosmonauts had previously traveled to suborbital altitudes, including Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom of the United States. They went on short flights that did not achieve orbit but rather reached a peak altitude before returning to Earth.
So, while Gagarin was not the first human to leave Earth’s atmosphere, he was the first to orbit the Earth.
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