2005 – XCOR Aerospace makes the first ever manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California. The mail recipient later gave the E-Bay seller feedback of “OMG LIGHTNING FASS SHIPMENT!! AAAA+++++”.
1999 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
1990 – Northwest Airlines Flight 1482 (a DC-9 registered N3313L) collides with Northwest Airlines Flight 299 (a 727-200 registered N287US) on a runway in Detroit, killing 8 people about Flight 1482. The DC-9 made two wrong turns, putting them on a runway that the 727 was using to depart. The DC-9 was destroyed completely by fire, and the 727 was able to stop safely and only experienced wingtip damage.
1973 – Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter. these photos would later be rejected on Airliners.net for “baddistance”.
1945 – A de Havilland Mk5 Sea Vampire becomes the first jet aircraft to take off and land from an aircraft carrier, HMS Ocean. It was flown by Lieutenant-Commander E. M. “Winkle” Brown
With that, here is a clip of Sea Vampires making gear-up carrier landings…on purpose. The old idea was to have a cable snag the plane, and a rubber carrier catch the plane. Yes, a rubber carrier deck!