1997 The crew aboard the Mir space station manage to reconnect vital electric cables that restored almost full power to the ageing craft. Flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov needed less time than planned to connect the nine cables in the Spektr module, but began the job behind schedule after a leak in his spacesuit glove that forced the cosmonauts to take emergency action. After the anxiety and the delay of two hours in the minutely planned schedule, the relief was palpable both in space and at Mission Control in Korolyov outside Moscow. For the first time since a serious collision with a cargo tug that cut the accident-prone Mir’s power supply by almost half, the situation on board seemed set to get better. The reconnected cables should restore overall power on Mir to 90 per cent of what it was before the accident. After reattaching the cables Vinogradov, with commander Anatoly Solovyov assisting him, inspected the interior of Spektr for evidence of the puncture.
Other important events
1485 England’s King Richard III is killed at the Battle of Bosworth, ending the War of the Roses.
1788 British found settlement in Sierra Leone, Africa, as asylum for freed slaves.
1846 United States annexes New Mexico.
1864 12 nations sign the First Geneva Convention.
1922 Michael Collins, the Irish Sinn Fein leader, is gunned down near Cork by militant nationalists.
1955 A US Navy patrol plane with 16 men aboard is shot down off mainland China by Chinese Communist aircraft.
1978 Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta dies.
1981 A Taiwanese domestic jetliner explodes in mid air and bursts into flames, killing all 110 people on board.
1985 A British Airtours Boeing 737 burst into flames at Manchester Airport, killing 54 tourists.
1986 Former Turkish president Celal Bayar dies in Istanbul, at the age of 104.
1992 Hurricane Andrew strikes the Florida coast, with damage estimated at $7.3 billion (Dh26.8 billion), making it the most costly in US history.
1993 Former Algerian prime minister Kasdi Merbah is assassinated
1994 Ernesto Zedillo, rolling up a commanding presidential victory in Mexico, vows to stick to the free-market course set by his predecessor.
1999 A Taiwanese airliner crashes at Hong Kong airport killing only two of the 315 passengers and crew.
2004 Armed robbers steal The Scream and another masterpiece by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in a bold daytime raid on an Oslo museum packed with terrified tourists.
2005 Last Israeli colonists leave Gaza Strip ending 38 years of occupation.
2006 British twin-engine diesel-powered JCB Diesel Max enter into the record books, racing across the salt flats at 526.027km/h at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
2008 Columns of Russian tanks roll out of key positions deep inside Georgia as a promised pullback begins.
2009 Unification Minister of South Korea Hyun In-taek holds talks with North Korea’s Spy Chief Kim Yang Gon on inter-Korea matters in Seoul South Korea, first time in two years.
2010 Thirty-three miners are trapped in a shelter 688 metres underground after a mine collapses in San Jose, Chile.
2013 Robert Mugabe is sworn in as Zimbabwe’s president for another five-year term.
2016 Rio hands Olympic flag to 2020 host Tokyo, marking the official end of the 2016 Games.
HIGHLIGHT
1997
Mir crew finish risky repairs
