Today in 20th Century Tech History

July 25 in 20th century tech history

In 1925: The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS), the official news agency of the Soviet Union, is established.

July 24 in 20th century tech history

Nothing happened.

July 23 in 20th century tech history

In 1903: Ford sells its first car, a Model A.

In 1926: Fox Film buys the patents for the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

In 1962: Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.

In 1972: The United States launches Landsat 1, first of the Landsat satellites, which have collectively taken millions of photographs of the Earth.

July 22 in 20th century tech history

In 1962: Mariner 1 is intentionally destroyed several minutes after launch, after flying erratically due to a bug in its guidance software.

July 21 in 20th century tech history

In 1959: NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative.

In 1961: Mercury-Redstone 4 is launched, making Gus Grissom the second American in space.

In 1969: Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.

July 20 in 20th century tech history

In 1960: The USS George Washington successfully launches the first Polaris missile from a submerged submarine.

In 1969: Apollo 11 successfully lands the first man on the Moon.

In 1976: The Viking 1 lander touches down on Mars.

July 19 in 20th century tech history

In 1963: Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 meters (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. By exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention.

In 1983: Michael W. Vannier and colleagues submit the first publication with a three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head X-rays using computed tomography.