June 18
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Featured Event
Johnson Space Center/NASA; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
When she was launched with four other astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly into outer space. Following Ride’s death in 2012, obituaries revealed her long-term relationship with another woman, Tam O’Shaughnessy. Ride kept her sexual orientation private during her NASA career, but the reveal meant that, in 1983, she was also the first known LGBTQ astronaut to fly. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > > ]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© Mary A Lupo/Shutterstock.com
In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
British rock star Sir Paul McCartney, born this day in Liverpool, England, in 1942, was a principal member of the Beatles, the leading rock band of the 1960s, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.
Famous Birthdays
More on June 18
© OceanGate Expeditions handout via EyePress News/Shutterstock.com
2023
The experimental submersible Titan imploded during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic; all five people on board were killed. [How much do you know about the Titanic?]
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
2006
Prelate Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, becoming the first woman chosen as a churchwide leader in the 400-year history of the Anglican Communion. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about world religions.]
© Chuck Fishman—Archive Photos/Getty Images
1979
The SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) II treaty was signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. [Take our quiz about military technology.]
Bruno Barbey/Magnum Photos
1940
Broadcasting from London after France fell to the Nazis, French General Charles de Gaulle appealed to his compatriots to continue World War II under his leadership. [Sort fact from fiction in our World War II quiz.]
From Mount Everest, the Reconnaissance, 1921, by Charles Howard-Bury and other members of the Mount Everest Expedition, 1922
1886
British explorer and mountaineer George Mallory, whose disappearance on Mount Everest in 1924 became one of the most-celebrated mysteries of the 20th century, was born in Mobberley, Cheshire. [Take our quiz about Mount Everest.]
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-USZ62-27885)
1873
American suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined after being convicted for voting in the 1872 presidential election, though she refused to pay it; in 2020 President Donald Trump pardoned Anthony, but the move was criticized by those who argued that it validated the trial. [How much do you know about famous suffragists?]
© photos.com/Getty Images
1815
Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo, ending 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe. [Test your knowledge of French history.]
Yale University Art Gallery; Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (1946.9.434)
1812
U.S. President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain, initiating the War of 1812, which arose chiefly from U.S. grievances over oppressive maritime practices during the Napoleonic Wars. [Take our history of war quiz.]
© G. Dagli Orti—DeAgostini/Getty Images
1429
Joan of Arc led the French army against the English at Patay, France. [Watch an overview of Joan of Arc’s life.]