TheApollo 15 postal covers incident involved the crew ofNASA'sApollo 15, who in 1971 carried about 400 unauthorizedpostal covers(example pictured) to the Moon's surface. American astronautsDavid Scott,Alfred Worden andJames Irwin agreed to receive about $7,000 each for transporting the covers, which were inside theLunar ModuleFalcon as Scott and Irwin walked on the Moon. The covers were postmarked both prior to liftoff fromKennedy Space Center and after splashdown. Though the astronauts returned the money, they were reprimanded by NASA for poor judgment and were called before a closed session of aSenate committee. They were removed as the backup crew forApollo 17 and never flew in space again; by 1977, all had left NASA. In 1983, Worden sued for the return of covers that had been impounded by NASA in 1972, and the three men received them in an out-of-court settlement. One of the covers provided in 1971 to West Germanstamp dealer Hermann Sieger sold for over $50,000 in 2014. (Full article...)
March 31:Cesar Chavez Day in various U.S. states (1927);International Transgender Day of Visibility
There were 49 tropical cyclones in the2019 Pacific typhoon season, the annual cycle oftropical cyclone formation over the western North Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. The first cyclone of the season,Tropical Storm Pabuk, developed in late December 2018; the final cyclone,Typhoon Phanfone, dissipated on December 29, 2019. Of the 49 tropical depressions that formed during the season, 29 developed intonamed tropical storms, 20 became severe tropical storms and 17 becametyphoons. Additionally, five typhoons becamesuper typhoons – an unofficial rank given by the United StatesJoint Typhoon Warning Center to storms with one-minutemaximum sustained winds of at least 240 km/h (150 mph). Activity in the 2019 season was greater than normal, primarily due to highsea surface temperatures. The most destructive system wasTyphoon Hagibis(pictured), which inflicted damage to Japan that amounted to¥1.88 trillion (US$17.3 billion) and killed 118 people. (Full list...)
 |
TheArtScience Museum is a building within the integrated resort ofMarina Bay Sands in theDowntown Core of Singapore. Opened in 2011, it features exhibitions in art, science, culture and technology. The museum was designed byMoshe Safdie and features an exterior made offibre-reinforced plastic supported internally by a steel lattice. It is anchored by a round base in the middle, with ten extensions referred to as "fingers" in the shape of a flower. This photograph shows the ArtScience Museum with other buildings of Singapore's Central Business District in the background. Photograph credit:Basile Morin Recently featured: |
Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by theWikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteerprojects:
This Wikipedia is written inEnglish. Manyother Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.