Today is Friday, October 4th, the 278th day of 2024. There are 88 days left within the yr.
Today in history:
On October 4, 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room on the age of 27.
Also on this date:
In 1777, General George Washington's troops launched an attack on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, leading to heavy American casualties.
The space age began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the primary artificial satellite into orbit.
In 1965 Pope Paul VI visited. became the primary pope to go to the Western Hemisphere when he addressed the UN General Assembly.
In 2001, a Russian airliner flying from Israel to Siberia was by chance shot down by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people on board.
In 2002, “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh was sentenced to twenty years in prison after sobbing for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. (He was released from prison in May 2019.)
In 2004, the SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke Earth's atmosphere to the sting of space for the second time in five days and won the $10 million Ansari-X Prize, geared toward opening the ultimate frontier to tourists.
Today's birthdays:
- Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa turns 80.
- Actress Susan Sarandon is 78.
- Actor Armand Assante is 75.
- Actor Christoph Waltz is 68.
- Singer Jon Secada is 63.
- Actor Liev Schreiber is 57.
- Actor Abraham Benrubi is 55.
- Actress Alicia Silverstone is 48.
- Actress Caitríona Balfe is 45.
- Actress Rachael Leigh Cook is 45.
- Actress Melissa Benoist is 36.
- NBA All-Star Derrick Rose is 36.
- Actress Dakota Johnson is 35.
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