Maxime Faget

Maxime "Max" A. Faget (August 26 1921 – October 9 2004) was an American engineer. He was the designer of the Mercury capsule, as well as contributing to the later NASA Gemini and Apollo spacecraft and also the Space Shuttle. Born in Stann Creek, British Honduras, Faget (pronounced fah-ZHAY) attended community college in San Francisco, California, and he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University in 1943. After three years as a submariner in the U.S. Navy, he joined the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia as a research scientist. In 1958, he became one of the 35 engineers who formed the Space Task Group, creating the Mercury spacecraft. He continued to work for NASA until his retirement in 1981, shortly after the second Space Shuttle flight (STS-2). During his NASA career, he contributed to the design of all of NASA's manned spacecraft to date. He held patents on the Mercury capsule, and the escape tower system that was used on Apollo; and lead to the escape system used on Soyuz which saved the lives of 3 astronauts in a launch pad fire. After his retirement, Faget was among the founders of Space Industries Inc., established in 1982. One of the projects of the company was the Wake Shield Facility, a device to create near-perfect vacuum in space. The WSF flew three times with a Space Shuttle in 1994–96 (STS-60, STS-69, STS-80).

External links

- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollo204/faget.html NASA biography] Faget, Max Faget, Max Faget, Max Faget, Max

1921

1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 1 - In American football, California defeats Ohio State 28-0 in the Rose Bowl.
- January 2 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- January 2 - Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia - 244 dead
- January 2 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
- January 20 - Royal Navy K-boat K5 sinks in the English Channel with all 56 hands
- February 25 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
- February 27 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is formed in Vienna
- February 28 - Russian sailors rebel in Kronstadt - On March 17 the Red Army crushes the rebellion and number of sailors flee to Finland
- March 1 - The city Kiryu, located in Gunma, Japan, is founded.
- March 6 - The Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
- March 8 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
- March 13 - Mongolia declares its independence from China
- March 17 - Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic in London, England. The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
- March 18 - The second Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Union ending Polish-Soviet war. Despite the recent Polish successes, Soviets annex Ukraine and Belarus.
- April 11 - The Emirate of Transjordan is created, with Abdullah I as emir.
- April 14 - In Britain, labour unions for mining, railway and transportation workers call for a strike - government threatens to call in the army
- April 24 - Referendum in Tyrol supports joining to Germany
- May 1-May 7 - Riots in Palestine of May, 1921
- 2 May-5 July - Third Silesian Uprising, the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
- May 5 - Only 13 spectators attend the soccer match between Leicester City and Stockport County, the lowest attendance in The Football League's history.
- May 6 - General strike begins in Norway
- May 8 - Death penalty abolished in Sweden
- May 14 - May 17 - Violent anti-European riots in Cairo and Alexandria
- May 19 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration.
- May 31 - Race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- May 24 - Elections are held for the first time for the new Northern Ireland Parliament.
- June 1 - Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: A race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma kills 85 people.
- June 26 - In Britain, rain ends 100 days of drought
- July 1 - Coal strike ends in England
- July 11 - The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and the Irish forces.
- July 11 - Mongolia becomes independent of China
- July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds Nichola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
- July 18 - The first BCG vaccination against tuberculosis
- July 22 - Irish Truce declared in Britain
- July 26 - US President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan - and Stanley Clifford Weyman...
- July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chairman of the Nazi Party
- July 27 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
- August - The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany
- August 5 - First radio broadcast of baseball game; Harold Arlin announced Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA Pittsburgh
- August 11 - 35 degree Celsius in Breslau - heat wave continues elsewhere in Europe as well
- August 23 - King Faisal is crowned in Baghdad
- August 24 - Airship ZR 2 explodes during a test flight near Hull, England - 41 dead
- August 26 - Rising prices cause riots in Munich
- August 29 - Assassination of German politician Matthias Erzberger causes the government to declare martial law
- September 1 - Poplar Strike in London - 9 members of Poplar borough council are arrested
- September 7 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.
- September 8 - 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.
- September 12 - Lotta Svärd founded in Finland.
- September 21 - Oppau explosion happened at BASF's nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany - 500—600 dead.
- October 10 - Teaching at the University of Szeged started in Hungary.
- October 21 - Peace conference between Irish and United Kingdom begins in London.
- October 24 - Spanish army defeats rifkabyls.
- October 29 - Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project completed.
- November 9 - Riots in Reykjavík - most of the small police force is injured.
- November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding.
- December 1 - Rising prices cause riots in Vienna.
- December 16 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State is signed in London. See Ireland/History.
- December 13 - In the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and France agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.
- December 29 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.
- Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman to enter Canadian parliament
- Change of US presidency from Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) to Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
- Invention of the vibraphone.
- Abkhazia becomes an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.

Fictitious Events

1921 is a song on the album Tommy by The Who.

Births

Date unknown

- Norma Macmillan, voice actress (d. 2001)

January

- January 5 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)
- January 5 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- January 10 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- January 19 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
- January 27 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
- January 31 - Carol Channing, American actress
- January 31 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (d. 1959)

February

- February 4 - Betty Friedan, American feminist
- February 4 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
- February 5 - John Pritchard, English conductor (d. 1989)
- February 11 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (d. 1996)
- February 11 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician
- February 14 - Hugh Downs, American game show host and journalist
- February 22 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
- February 25 - Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (d. 1970)

March

- March 1 - Jack Clayton, British film director
- March 1 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d. 1983)
- March 1 - Richard Wilbur, American poet
- March 2 - Robert Simpson, English composer (d. 1997)
- March 3 - Paul Guimard, French writer (d. 2004)
- March 5 - Elmer Valo, Czech Major League Baseball player (d. 1998)
- March 8 - Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
- March 11 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- March 12 - Giovanni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
- March 12 - Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
- March 13 - Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
- March 13 - Cyril Poole, English cricketer (d. 1996)
- March 20 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer (d. 1973)
- March 21 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d. 1986)
- March 25 - Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)
- March 28 - Dirk Bogarde, English actor (d. 1999)

April-May

- April 1 - Beau Jack, American boxer (d. 2000)
- April 8 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
- April 10 - Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
- April 14 - Thomas Schelling, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 15 - Georgi Beregovoi, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1995)
- April 16 - Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (d. 2004)
- April 23 - Warren Spahn, baseball player (d. 2003)
- May 2 - Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (d. 1992)
- May 5 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- May 6 - Erich Fried, Austrian author (d. 1988)
- May 9 - Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
- May 9 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- May 11 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
- May 12 - Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
- May 12 - Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
- May 17 - Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d. 1957)
- May 18 - Sir Michael Epstein, British medical researcher
- May 19 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
- May 20 - Wolfgang Borchert, German writer (d. 1947)
- May 20 - Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d. 1998)
- May 21 - Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (d. 1989)
- May 23 - James Blish, American science fiction author (d. 1975)
- May 25 - Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 25 - James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher
- May 26 - Stan Mortensen, English footballer (d. 1991)
- May 28 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)

June-August

- June 1 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (d. 1985)
- June 8 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)
- June 10 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- June 15 - Errol Garner, American jazz musician (d. 1977)
- June 25 - Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer
- June 26 - Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (d. 1945)
- June 28 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
- July 6- Nancy Davis Reagan, wife of U.S President Ronald Reagan
- July 10 - Harvey Ball, American designer (d. 2001)
- July 11 - Ilse Werner, German actress (d. 2005)
- July 13 - Friedrich Peter, Austrian poltitician (d. 2005)
- July 14 - Leon Garfield, English children's author (d. 1996)
- July 14 - Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 15 - Robert Bruce Merrifield, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 17 - František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
- July 17 - Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- July 19 - Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- July 22 - William Roth, U.S. Senator (d. 2003)
- July 30 - Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (d. 2005)
- August 4 - Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
- August 8 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (d. 1979)
- August 9 - J. James Exon Governor of Nebraska and U.S. Senator (d. 2005)
- August 19 - Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d. 1991)
- August 23 - Kenneth Arrow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 25 - Monty Hall, Canadian actor and game show host

September-December

- September 3 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (d. 1971)
- September 8 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
- September 12 - Stanisław Lem, Polish science fiction writer
- October 2 - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
- October 5 - Bill Willis, American football player
- October 13 - Yves Montand, French singer and actor (d. 1991)
- October 18 - Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator from North Carolina
- October 19 - Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1995)
- October 25 - King Michael of Romania
- November 3 - Charles Bronson, American actor (d. 2003)
- November 5 - Princess Fawzia of Egypt
- November 11 - Ron Greenwood, English football manager
- November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor (d. 1997)
- November 22 - Rodney Dangerfield, American actor and comedian (d. 2004)
- November 23 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d. 1960)
- December 3 - Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
- December 6 - Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
- December 26 - Steve Allen, American actor, composer, comedian, and author (d. 2000)

Deaths

- February 8 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b. 1842)
- February 26 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
- February 27 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
- March 2 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
- April 27 - Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b. 1863)
- May 5 - Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
- June 5 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b. 1862)
- August 2 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- September 2 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b. 1840)
- September 11 - Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil poet (b. 1882)
- September 27 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
- October 25 - Bat Masterson, American gunfighter
- November 28 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader (b. 1844)
- December 16 - Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b. 1835)
- December 31 - Boies Penrose, United States Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Albert Einstein
- Chemistry - Frederick Soddy
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - Anatole France
- Peace - Karl Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lous Lange
- ko:1921년 ms:1921 ja:1921年 simple:1921 th:พ.ศ. 2464

2004

2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It was designated the:
- International Year of Rice (by the United Nations)
- International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO)
- 2004 World Health Day topic was Road Safety (by World Health Organization)
- Year of the Monkey (by the Chinese calendar) See the world in 2004 for a description of the state of the world in this year. See also Wikipedia's almanac of events for this year.
Events

January

- January 1 - Pervez Musharraf gets a vote of confidence from an electoral college consisting of Parliament and the provincial assemblies, confirming him as President of Pakistan until 2007.
- January 3 - Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.
- January 4 - Mikhail Saakashvili wins the presidential elections in Georgia.
- January 4 -NASA's MER-A (Spirit) lands on Mars.
- January 8 - Queen Elizabeth II christens the RMS Queen Mary 2 cruise liner, currently the largest ocean liner in the world.
- January 13 - An Uzbekistan Airways plane crashes in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent, killing 37.
- January 22 - The European Union bans the import of poultry from Thailand, as bird flu spreads throughout Southeast Asia.
- January 24 - NASA's MER-B (Opportunity) lands on Mars.
- January 27 - The British government narrowly wins a House of Commons vote on the proposed introduction of tuition top-up fees in British universities.
- January 28 - The findings of the Hutton Inquiry are published in London. The British Government is found not to have falsified information in the "sexed up dossier". The report criticises the BBC's role in the death of David Kelly, a weapons expert on Iraq.
- January 28 - At a hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, it is revealed that the September 11, 2001, terrorists used Mace (a brand of tear gas) or pepper spray in overpowering the flight crew of American Airlines Flight 11.
February

- February 1 - A hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills 251 pilgrims.
- February 3 - The CIA admits that there was no imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
- February 6 - A suicide bomber kills 41 people on a metro car in Moscow.
- February 7 - Several leaders of Abnaa el-Balad arrested in Israel.
- February 10 - At least 50 people killed in a car bomb attack on a police recruitment centre south of Baghdad.
- February 10 - The French National Assembly votes to pass a law banning religious items and clothing from schools.
- February 12 - Same sex marriage in the United States: The City and County of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as an act of civil disobedience.
- February 13 - Scientists in South Korea announce the cloning of 30 human embryos.
- February 14 - Riots break out between New South Wales Police and Aboriginal residents of Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
- February 18 - A train carrying a convoy of petrol, fertiliser, and sulfur derails and explodes in Iran, killing 320 people.
- February 20 - Conservatives win a majority in the Iranian parliament election.
- February 24 - 6.5 Richter scale earthquake in Northern Morocco hits in the Rif mountains near the city of Al Hoceima - over 400 dead. Ait Kamara is destroyed. 517 dead.
- February 25- Ash Wednesday. Also, the religious docudrama, The Passion of the Christ was released.
- February 26 - The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
- February 26 - Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- February 29 - 2004 Haiti rebellion: Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as president of Haiti. The chief justice of the Haitian Supreme Court, Boniface Alexandre, is sworn in as interim president.
- February 29 - The film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King directed by Peter Jackson wins 11 Academy Awards in every category it was nominated.
March

- March 2 - John Kerry effectively clinches the 2004 U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination by winning nine out of 10 "Super Tuesday" primaries and caucuses.
- March 2 - NASA announces that the Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity), has confirmed that the area of Mars they landed in was once drenched in water.
- March 10 - Five British men released from detention at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay land at RAF Brize Norton. Four are immediately arrested for questioning.
- March 11 - Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 190 people.
- March 12 - Following the terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, millions of protesters take to the streets of Spanish cities against terrorism.
- March 14 - Two suicide bombers kill eleven Israeli civilians in Ashdod, Israel.
- March 14 - The Spanish parliamentary elections of 2004 take place. The incumbent government led by José María Aznar is defeated by the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
- March 14 - Presidential elections in Russia are held. Vladimir Putin easily wins a second term.
- March 15 - A trio of astronomers announce they have discovered a large trans-Neptunian object, the largest object found in the solar system since Pluto was discovered in 1930. Initially designated 2003 VB₁₂, it was named 90377 Sedna in late September.
- March 15 - The new Spanish government announces that it will withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops in Iraq.
- March 17 - Organized violence breaks out over two days in Kosovo. Nineteen people are killed, 139 Serbian homes are burned, schools and businesses are vandalized, and over 30 orthodox monasteries and churches are burned and destroyed.
- March 19 - The UN launches a corruption investigation due to the scandal over its Iraqi Oil for Food program.
- March 20 - President Chen Shui-bian wins the Taiwanese presidential election by 0.2% of the vote. The day before, he and Vice President Annette Lu were 'shot'. Lien Chan refuses to concede and demands a recount. A controversial 'peace referendum' opposed by the People's Republic of China is invalidated.
- March 21 - The 2004 Malaysian general election takes place. The incumbent Barisan Nasional party wins 198 out of 219 seats in the Malaysian Parliament.
- March 21 - Tony Saca is elected President of El Salvador (inauguration June 1).
- March 22 - Palestinians protest in the streets after an Israeli helicopter gunship fires a missile at the entourage of Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City, killing Yassin and 7 others.
- March 25 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair visits Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, in return for the dismantling of Libya's WMD programme in December 2003 - the first time a major western leader has visited the nation in several decades.
- March 28 - In France, the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin suffers a stunning and unprecedented defeat in regional elections. The first ever South Atlantic Hurricane makes landfall in South Brazil on the state of Santa Catarina, the Hurricane is dubbed Hurricane Catarina.
- March 29 - The Republic of Ireland bans smoking in all enclosed work places including: restaurants, pubs and bars.
- March 29 - Largest expansion of NATO to date, allowing Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia into the organization.
- March 31 - Four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed in Fallujah, Iraq.
April

- April 1 - Faroese Prime Minister's Office announces that from then on the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office would use a new version of the Faroese Coat of Arms. The colours were inspired from the Merkið (flag) and yellow/gold was added. The new Coat of Arms depicts a Ram on a blue shield ready to defend. It can be used by the Government Ministries and by Faroese embassies, but some still use older versions of the Coat of Arms. Coat of Arms
- April 3 - A bomb explosion in a Madrid flat kills a Spanish policeman and five terrorists suspected of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings on March 11.
- April 4 - Serious fighting breaks out in Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra in Iraq as Shia insurgents supporting Muqtada al-Sadr rise against coalition forces.
- April 5 - Queen Elizabeth II begins a state visit to France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale.
- April 8 - Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
- April 8 - Three Japanese citizens are taken hostage in Iraq.
- April 8 - Former Japanese famous economist, professor at Waseda University graduate school Kazuhide Uekusa was arrested on the escalator of JR Shinagawa Station because of trying to peep under high school girl's skirt with his hand mirror.
- April 16 - India defeats Pakistan in their first cricket tour in 14 years.
- April 17 - Israeli helicopters fire missiles at a convoy of vehicles in the Gaza Strip, killing the Gaza leader of Hamas, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.
- April 20 - In Iraq, 12 mortars were fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents. Twenty two detainees were killed and 92 wounded. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-20-iraq_x.htm]
- April 21 - Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed an Israeli nuclear weapons programme in the 1980s, is released from prison in Israel after an 18 year term for treason.
- April 22 - Two trains carrying explosives and fuel collide in the North Korean town of Ryongchon, killing 161 people, injuring 1,300 and destroying thousands of homes.
- April 22 - The last coal mine in France closes, ending nearly 300 years of coal mining.
- April 25 - Referenda on a United Nations plan, which proposes to re-unite the island of Cyprus, take place in both the Greek and Turkish parts. Although the Turks vote in favour, the Greeks reject the proposal.
- April 28 - Abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is revealed on the television show 60 Minutes II.
May

- May 1 - the largest expansion to date of the European Union takes place, extending the Union by 10 member-states: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus.
- May 6 - The final episode of Friends airs on NBC, drawing an estimated 52 million viewers in North America.
- May 8 - Would-be "Saudi Princess" "Antoinette Millard" surfaces in New York City and claims that muggers had stolen jewels worth of $262.000 from her (she later proves to be an impostor).
- May 9 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by landmine placed under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial parade in Grozny.
- May 9 - Team of Canada won the World Ice Hockey Championship in Prague.
- May 10 - The 2004 Philippine presidential and legislative elections take place. Incumbent president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wins the presidency.
- May 11 - An explosion destroys a plastics factory in Glasgow, UK, killing nine people and injuring over a hundred.
- May 12 - An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, is shown being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to al-Qaida on a web-distributed video.
- May 13 - In India, the Congress Party wins a surprise victory in the elections to the Lok Sabha.
- May 14 - Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, marries Australian Mary Donaldson in Copenhagen.
- May 17 - Ezzedine Salim, holder of the rotating leadership of the Iraqi Governing Council, is killed in a bomb blast in Baghdad.
- May 17 - Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from the state's Supreme Judicial Court (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health).
- May 19 - Tony Blair is hit with a purple flour bomb in the chamber of the House of Commons during a session of Prime Minister's Questions.
- May 19 - Jeremy Sivits pleads guilty in a court-martial in connection with alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
- May 23 - A section of the ceiling in Terminal 2E at Paris's Charles de Gaulle International Airport collapses, claiming at least six lives.
- May 23 - Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visits North Korea to secure the release of the families of the nine abducted Japanese citizens returned earlier.
- May 26 - Terry Nichols is convicted by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- May 29 - Dedication of the National World War II Memorial takes place in Washington, DC.
- May 30 - Thousands of people in Hong Kong take to the streets to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
June

- June 1 - Twelve-year-old Satomi Mitarai, a Japanese schoolgirl attending Okubo Elementary School in Sasebo, Japan is murdered. Her killer, an 11-year-old classmate identified by Japanese authorities as "Girl A", becomes the basis for the Nevada-tan Internet meme.
- June 4 - Marvin Heemeyer destroys many local buildings with a home-made tank in Grancby, Colorado
- June 5 - Former President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, dies at age 93.
- June 6 - The 60th anniversary of D-Day is remembered by world leaders.
- June 7 - Tampa Bay Lightning defeat Calgary Flames in 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 8 - The first transit of Venus since 1882 occurs; the next one will occur in 2012.
- June 8 - The G8 Summit takes place over the next 2 days on Sea Island, in Georgia, USA.
- June 8 - The pickled heart of Louis XVII of France is buried in the royal crypt at Saint-Denis.
- June 11 - Terry Nichols is spared the death penalty by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The decision came on the third anniversary of the execution of his co-defendant, Timothy James McVeigh, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
- June 11 - After the first presidential state funeral since 1973, President Ronald Wilson Reagan is laid to rest at Simi Valley, California, at the site of the Reagan Presidential Library.
- June 12 - A 1.3 kg chondrite type meteorite struck a house in Ellerslie, New Zealand causing serious damage but no injuries.Ellerslie, New Zealand
- June 15 - The Detroit Pistons upset the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers to win the 2004 NBA Finals, four games to one.
- June 16 - The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (or "9/11 Commission") issues an initial report of its findings.
- June 21 - SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately-funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
- June 28 - Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains collided in a rural area outside of San Antonio, Texas. Forty cars were derailed, including one chlorine car, and three people died, another 50 people were hospitalized because of exposure to the gas.
- June 28 - The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transfers sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.
- June 28 - Canadian election: The Liberal Party, led by Paul Martin, is reduced to a minority government, after holding a majority since November 1993.
- June 30 - The preliminary hearings begin in Iraq in the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
July

- July 1 - The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn.
- July 4 - Groundbreaking of Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in New York City.
- July 4 - The Euro 2004 final between Portugal and Greece takes place in Lisbon, Portugal. Greece wins the match 1:0.
- July 22 - The Old Bridge of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina is reconstructed and reopened after being destroyed by Bosnian Croat forces on November 9, 1993.
- July 25 - Over 100,000 opponents to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2004 participate in a human chain from Gush Katif, to the Western Wall, Jerusalem (90 kilometers).
- July 25 - Lance Armstrong of Austin, Texas wins an unprecedented 6th consecutive Tour de France cycling title.
August

- August 1 - Supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay, kills about 400 people and leaves over 100 missing.
- August 3 - Statue of Liberty reopens after security improvements.
- August 6 - A United Nations report that blames the government of Sudan for crimes against humanity in Darfur is released.
- August 12 - Singapore's prime minister Goh Chok Tong hands over his position to Lee Hsien Loong.
- August 13 - The 2004 Summer Olympics begin in Athens. They end on August 29.
- August 13 - Hurricane Charley kills 27 people in Florida after killing four in Cuba and one in Jamaica. Charley made landfall near Cayo Costa, FL as a Category 4 hurricane. Charley was the most intense hurricane to strike the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
- August 16 - Severe flooding in the village of Boscastle in Cornwall.
- August 18 - In Dublin, Ireland the Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works were completed and the final tunnel boring machine breakthrough ceremony took place.
- August 21 - A series of blasts rocks a rally of an opposition party in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing at least 13 people.
- August 22 - Armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's The Scream, Madonna and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.
- August 24 - Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, crash within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, leaving no survivors. Authorities suspect suicide attacks by rebels from Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes.
- August 29 - Around 200,000 protesters demonstrate in New York City against President George W. Bush and his government, ahead of the 2004 Republican National Convention.
- August 31 - Two suicide attacks on buses in Beer Sheva, Israel, kill at least 16 people and injure at least 60. Hamas claims responsibility for the attacks.
- August 31 - A woman commits a suicide attack near a subway station in northern Moscow, Russia, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 50. Authorities hold Chechen rebels responsible.
September

- September 1 - Chechen rebels take between 1,000 and 1,500 people hostage, mostly children, in a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. The hostage-takers demand the release of Chechen rebels imprisoned in neighbouring Ingushetia and the independence of Chechnya from Russia.
- September 2 - The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 1559 calling for the removal of all foreign troops from Lebanon. This measure is largely aimed at Syrian troops.
- September 3 - Russian forces end the siege at a school in Beslan, Northern Ossetia. At least 335 people (among which at least 32 of the approximately 40 hostage-takers) have been killed and at least 700 people have been injured.
- September 3 - Hurricane Frances makes landfall in Florida. After killing two people in the Bahamas, Hurricane Frances killed ten people in Florida, two in Georgia and one in South Carolina.
- September 7 - The Scottish Parliament meets in the new Scottish Parliament Building for the first time.
- September 7 - Hurricane Ivan passes directly over Grenada, killing 37 people. It passes over other Caribbean islands over the next two days, killing 5 people in Venezuela, 4 in the Dominican Republic, 1 in Tobago and 20 in Jamaica.
- September 8 - In the "Rathergate" affair, the first Internet posts appear pointing out that documents claimed by CBS News to be typewritten memos from the early 1970s appear instead to have been produced using modern word processing systems.
- September 9 - A bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, kills eleven people and injures up to 100 people.
- September 13 - The Assault Weapons Ban expires.
- September 15 - Davíð Oddsson prime minister of Iceland steps down after serving as prime minister since April 30 1991. Oddson becomes foreign minister as his foreign minister Halldór Ásgrímsson becomes prime minister.
- September 15 - Security at the Palace of Westminster is compromised when the House of Commons is stormed by a small group of protestors during a debate about fox hunting.
- September 15 - "Girl A" is sentenced to be institutionalized due to the murder of classmate Satomi Mitarai.
- September 16 - Hurricane Ivan strikes Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 3 storm, killing 25 in Alabama and Florida.
- September 17 - 2004 Summer Paralympics commences in Athens, Greece.
- September 17 - Mexico and Japan finish the two year long negotiations and sign a Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City.
- September 23 - Mount St. Helens becomes active again.
- September 23 - Tropical Storm Ivan, having come around and reformed in the Gulf of Mexico, makes its final landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, to little effect. In total, the storm killed 92 people.
- September 25 - Hurricane Jeanne makes landfall near Hutchinson Island, FL. In all, Jeanne killed over 3,000, most in Haiti.
- September 29 - First Ansari X-Prize flight of SpaceShipOne.
October

- October 4 - Two car bombs kill at least 16 people and injure dozens more in Baghdad.
- October 5 - A fire breaks out on the Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi leaving it stranded without power in the North Atlantic ocean, off the north coast of Ireland. One crewmember is killed.
- October 8 - Kenneth Bigley, the British hostage held by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Iraqi insurgent, is killed after a failed escape attempt.
- October 8 - Suicide bombers detonate two bombs at the Red Sea resort of Taba, Egypt, killing 34 people, mainly Israeli tourists and Egyptian workers.
- October 9 - Queen Elizabeth II opens the new Scottish Parliament Building in a ceremony in Edinburgh
- October 9 - Incumbent Prime Minister of Australia John Howard leads the Liberal-National coalition to victory over the Labor Party led by Mark Latham in federal elections.
- October 9 - Direct elections for president held for the first time in Afghanistan. Interim president Hamid Karzai is eventually declared the winner.
- October 10 - Abdullahi Yusuf is chosen as the new transitional president of Somalia.
- October 14 - Prince Norodom Sihamoni is chosen as the new king of Cambodia.
- October 16 - The New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox, 19-8 in Game 3 of Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series. The game, which pushed the Yankees to a 3 games to none series lead, sets a record for longest nine inning baseball game.
- October 17 - A referendum in Belarus approves the lifting of constitutional term limits for the presidency.
- October 18 - Three men attack Greek journalist Philippos Syrigos in Athens and seriously wound him
- October 19 - General Khin Nyunt is replaced by Lieutenant-General Soe Win as Prime Minister of Myanmar.
- October 20 - The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, completing an unprecedented comeback from three games to none down.
- October 20 - Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in Missouri, killing 13 people, and injuring 2.
- October 20 - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono becomes the first directly-elected President of Indonesia.
- October 21 - The Ministry of Defence approves the deployment of the Black Watch regiment of the British Army to Baghdad, Iraq after a request for assistance by the U.S. government.
- October 24 - The bodies of 49 Iraqi soldiers discovered after being ambushed by insurgents.
- October 24 - Brazil successfully launches its first rocket into space.
- October 25 - Reverand Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and Coretta Scott King receive Congressional Gold Medal.
- October 26 - October 26The Cassini probe passes within 1,200km of Titan
- October 27 - Details of the discovery of a new, recent, species of fossil hominid, Homo floresiensis, from the island of Flores, Indonesia are published.
- October 27 - The Boston Red Sox sweep the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series championship for the first time since 1918.
- October 29 - A videotape of Osama Bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the United States, and taunts the president, George W. Bush, over the September 11 Terrorist attacks.
- October 29 - European heads of state signed in Rome the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.
- October 30 - A 163 metre high radio mast in Peterborough, UK collapsed at a fire
- October 31 - Leftist candidate Tabaré Vázquez is elected President of Uruguay.
November

- November 1 - a 16 year old Palestinian, a muslim, blew himself up in an outdoor market in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis.
- November 2 - U.S. presidential election: President George W. Bush defeats Senator John Kerry. Republicans make gains in the Project Mercury was the United States first successful manned spaceflight program. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a man in orbit around the Earth. Early planning and research was carried out by NACA, while the program was officially carried out by the newly created NASA. The name Mercury comes from the Roman god (it is also the name of the innermost planet of the solar system). The Mercury program cost $1.5 billion in 1994 dollars. See NASA Budget.
Spacecraft
__NOTOC__ Mercury spacecraft (also called a capsule or space capsule) were very small one-man vehicles; it was said that the Mercury spacecraft were not ridden, they were worn. Only 1.7 cubic meters in volume, the Mercury capsule was barely big enough to include its pilot. Inside were 120 controls: 55 electrical switches, 30 fuses and 35 mechanical levers. The spacecraft was designed by Max Faget and NASA's Space Task Group. During the launch phase of the mission, the Mercury spacecraft and astronaut were protected from launch vehicle failures by the Launch Escape System. The LES consisted of a solid fuel, 52,000 lbf (231 kN) thrust rocket mounted on a tower above the spacecraft. In the event of a launch abort, the LES fired for 1 second, pulling the Mercury spacecraft away from a defective launch vehicle. The spacecraft would then descend on its parachute recovery system. After booster engine cutoff (BECO), the LES was no longer needed and was separated from the spacecraft by a solid fuel, 800 lbf (3.6 kN) thrust jettison rocket, that fired for 1.5 seconds. To separate the Mercury spacecraft from the launch vehicle, the spacecraft fired three small solid fuel, 400 lbf (1.8 kN) thrust rockets for 1 second. These rockets are called the Posigrade rockets. The spacecraft had only attitude control thrusters. After orbit insertion and before retrofire they could not change their orbit. The spacecraft had three sets of control jets for each axis (yaw, pitch and roll), supplied from two separate fuel tanks. An automatic set of high and low powered jets and a set of manual jets, fueled from either the automatic tank or the manual tank. The pilot could use any one of the three thruster systems and fuel them from either of the two fuel tanks to provide spacecraft attitude control. The Mercury spacecraft were designed to be totally controllable from the ground in the event that the space environment impaired the pilot's ability to function. The spacecraft had three solid fuel, 1000 lbf (4.5 kN) thrust retrorockets that fired for 10 seconds each. One was sufficient to return the spacecraft to earth if the other two failed. The first retro was fired, five seconds later the second was fired (while the first was still firing). Five seconds after that, the third retro fires (while the second retro is still firing). This is called ripple firing. There was a small metal flap at the nose of the spacecraft called the "spoiler". If the spacecraft started to reenter nose first (another stable reentry attitude for the capsule), airflow over the "spoiler" would flip the spacecraft around to the proper, heatshield first reentry attitude. Suborbital Mercury capsules encountered lower reentry temperatures and used beryllium heat-sink heat shields. Orbital missions encountered much higher atmospheric friction and temperatures during reentry and used ablative shields. NASA ordered 20 production spacecraft, numbered 1 through 20, from McDonnell Aircraft Company, St. Louis, Missouri. Five of the twenty spacecraft were not flown. They were, Spacecraft #10, 12, 15, 17, and 19. Two unmanned spacecraft were destroyed during flights. They were Spacecraft #3 and #4. Spacecraft #11 sank and was recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after 38 years. Some spacecraft were modified after initial production (refurbished after launch abort, modified for longer missions, etc) and received a letter designation after their number, examples 2B, 15B. Some spacecraft were modified twice, example, spacecraft 15 became 15A and then 15B. A number of boilerplate spacecraft (mockup/prototype/replica spacecraft, made from non-flight materials or lacking production spacecraft systems and/or hardware) were also made by NASA and McDonnell Aircraft and used in numerous tests, including launches.

Boosters
ablative The Mercury program used three boosters: Little Joe, Redstone, and Atlas. Little Joe was used to test the escape tower and abort procedures. Redstone was used for suborbital flights, and Atlas for orbital ones. Starting in October, 1958, Jupiter missiles were also considered as suborbital launch vehicles for the Mercury program, but were cut from the program in July, 1959 due to budget constraints. The Atlas boosters required extra strengthening in order to handle the increased weight of the Mercury capsules beyond that of the nuclear warheads they were designed to carry. Little Joe was a solid-propellant booster designed specially for the Mercury program. The Titan missile was also considered for use for later Mercury missions, however the Mercury program was terminated before these missions were flown. The Titan was used for the Gemini program which followed Mercury

Astronauts
Gemini program The first Americans to venture into space were drawn from a group of 110 military pilots chosen for their flight test experience and because they met certain physical requirements. Seven of those 110 became astronauts in April 1959. Six of the seven flew Mercury missions (Deke Slayton was removed from flight status due to a heart condition). Beginning with Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 flight, the astronauts named their own spacecraft, and all added 7 to the name to acknowledge the teamwork of their fellow astronauts Mercury had seven prime astronauts, all former military test pilots, known as the Mercury 7. NASA announced the selection of these astronauts on April 9, 1959.
- M. Scott Carpenter (1925-)
- L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. (1927-2004)
- John H. Glenn. Jr. (1921-)
(first American to orbit the earth)
- Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (1926-1967)
- Walter M. Schirra, Jr. (1923-)
- Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (1923-1998)
(first American in space)
- Donald K. "Deke" Slayton (1924-1993)
(grounded in 1962 due to irregular heartbeat, reinstated in 1972 and later flew on Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975)
Flights
The program included 20 robotic launches. Not all of these were intended to reach space and not all were successful in completing their objectives. The fifth flight in 1959 launched a monkey named Sam (a rhesus monkey named after the Air Force School of Aviation Medicine) into space. Other non-human space-farers were Miss Sam (a rhesus monkey), Ham and Enos, both chimpanzees. The Mercury program used the following launch vehicles:
- Little Joe - Suborbital, robotic, and primate flights. Launch escape system tests
- Redstone - Suborbital robotic, primate and piloted orbital flights.
- Atlas - Suborbital robotic, robotic, primate, and piloted orbital flights.
Robotic

- Mercury-Jupiter - Cancelled in July, 1959 - Proposed suborbital launch vehicle for Mercury. Not flown.
- Little Joe 1 - August 21, 1959 - test of launch escape system during flight
- Big Joe 1 - September 9, 1959 - test of heat shield and Atlas / spacecraft interface
- Little Joe 6 - October 4, 1959 - Test of capsule aerodynamics and integrity
- Little Joe 1A - November 4, 1959 - test of launch escape system during flight
- Little Joe 2 - December 4, 1959 - carried Sam the monkey to 85 kilometres in altitude
- Little Joe 1B - January 21, 1960 - carried Miss Sam the monkey to 9.3 statute miles (15 kilometres) in altitude
- Beach Abort - May 9, 1960 - test of the Off-The-Pad abort system
- Mercury-Atlas 1 - July 29, 1960 - first flight of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Little Joe 5 - November 8, 1960 - first flight of a production Mercury spacecraft
- Mercury-Redstone 1 - November 21, 1960 - Launched 4 inches (100 mm). Settled back on pad due to electrical malfunction
- Mercury-Redstone 1A - December 19, 1960 - first flight of Mercury spacecraft and Redstone booster
- Mercury-Redstone 2 - January 31, 1961 - carried Ham the Chimpanzee on suborbital flight
- Mercury-Atlas 2 - February 21, 1961 - test of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Little Joe 5A - March 18, 1961 - test of the launch escape system during the most severe conditions of a launch
- Mercury-Redstone BD - March 24, 1961 - Redstone Booster Development - test flight
- Mercury-Atlas 3 - April 25, 1961 - test of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Little Joe 5B - April 28, 1961 - test of the launch escape system during the most severe conditions of a launch
- Mercury-Atlas 4 - September 13, 1961 - test of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Mercury-Scout 1 - November 1, 1961 - test of Mercury tracking network
- Mercury-Atlas 5 - November 29,