In 2003 the United States space shuttle Columbia disintegrates on re-entry killing all seven astronauts on board. Fighter Pilot Colonel Ilan Ramon (Israel’s first astronaut) and United States citizens Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Indian-born Kalpana Chawla all died. After investigation it was concluded that a breach in the Columbia’s heat shield was the cause.
In 1992 a joint statement by United States President George W. Bush senior and Russian President Boris Yeltsin announcing the end of the Cold War.
In 1984 the half penny is no longer legal tender in the United Kingdom.
In 1958 The USA sent the Explorer 1 into Earth’s orbit which was their first spacecraft.
In 1908 King Carlos I of Portugal is assassinated in Lisbon. Both the king and next in line to the throne, his eldest son Luis Filipe, are killed by revolutionaries in their open to carriage. The revolution began two years prior partly due to economic recession.
In 1884 the Oxford English Dictionary debuts with the first portion published on this day in 1884. The Oxford English Dictionary is the most accurate and comprehensive dictionary of the English language.
In 1861 Texas becomes the seventh state to secede the United States in the lead up to the US civil War. The other states that seceded from the United States are Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina. In a few days on the 4th of February representatives from these other States would meet in Alabama and the confederacy would be formed.
In 1327 Edward the III was crowned King of England at the age of Fourteen in Westminster. Edward II became King when his imprisoned father was forced to abdicate the throne on the 25th of January 1327.
In 1547 King Henry VIII of England died in London. He was buried in Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor in the same tomb as his third wife Jane Seymour, who died 12 days after the birth of their son Edward (Henry’s only male heir). He became King Edward VI of England on this day aged nine.
