1961: On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy declared to a joint session of Congress his belief that the nation should commit itself to landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. This mission was accomplished on July 20, 1969. On June 24, 1961, the public learned of President John Kennedy's letter assigning Vice President Lyndon Johnson the high priority task of unifying the U.S. satellite programs. Twenty-two years later, on the same day, astronaut Sally Kirsten Ride landed at Edwards Air Force Base aboard the 100-ton space shuttle Challenger, completing her voyage as the first American woman in space. These two events evidence the nation's leap from an age of earth-bound methods of communication and travel into the space age. (Source: Library of Congress)

1895: Jack Dempsey, world heavyweight boxing champion from 1919 to 1926, was born in Colorado.