1887 - Dmitri Mendeleev makes a solo climb with a balloon at a height of 11,500 feet (3,500 m) above Klin, Russia to observe the eclipse of the Sun.
1919 - Afghanistan declares independence from Great Britain (DAY OF INDEPENDENCE).
1959 - Satellite Discoverer 6 is launched in a polar orbit.
1960 - The USSR launches Sputnik 5 into Space; on it there are the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and many different types of plants.
1964 - Syncom 3 communication satellite is launched.
1966 - An earthquake in Varko, Turkey, 2,400 killed.
1982 - The Alliance T-7 is launched with Svetlana Savitskaya, the second woman in space.
