On September 26, 1820, famed American pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone died in St. Charles County, Missouri. Boone was a legendary American frontiersman and explorer whose daring adventures helped open the wilderness of Kentucky to early settlers.
Explorer, soldier, and politician Meriwether Lewis was born on August 18, 1774, in Ivy, Albemarle County, Virginia. Best known for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, he went on to serve as governor of the Louisiana Territory.
On July 24, 1911, Hiram Bingham became one of the first Americans to explore the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. Relatively unknown to the outside world at the time, his expedition brought it international attention, changing our understanding of ancient civilizations in South America.
On July 16, 1769, Franciscan friar Junipero Serra founded California’s first Catholic mission. This marked the beginning of the Spanish mission system in California, which would go on to shape the culture, history, and landscape of the region for centuries.
On July 13, 1584, the first of three Roanoke voyages arrived in present-day North Carolina. These were attempts to establish the first permanent English settlement in North America. While the settlement saw the first English child born in America, all of the settlers disappeared and their fate is still unknown today.
On June 29, 1995, the US Space Shuttle Atlantis docked the Russian space station Mir for the first time. The mission, STS-71, was the third in the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir program. It began on June 27, 1995, when the Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This was the 100th US human space launch from Cape Canaveral.
On June 9, 1534, Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to travel the St. Lawrence River.
On April 17, 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano became the first European to see New York harbor.
On February 18, 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto after nearly a year of searching. It would be another 85 years before the US sent its first space probe there – inspired by a postage stamp!