Earth To The Moon

January 6: Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman to be elected as Speaker of the House in the U.S. Congress.

January 8: In the BCS title game, the number 2 ranked Florida State Gators upset the number 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes 41-14 to win the BCS national championship.

January 9: The United States conducts an air strike against suspected terrorist targets in Somalia.

January 10: President Bush announces plans to send another 21,500 troops to Iraq.

January 11: Using a ground based ballistic missile, China destroys one of its own weather satellites.

January 30: Microsoft release the Vista operating system to consumers.

January 31: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is granted the power to rule by decree for 18 months by the Venezuelan Parliament.

February 4: The Indianapolis Colts defeat the Chicago Bears 29 to 17 in Super Bowl XLI.

February 6: NASA Astronaut Lisa Nowak is arrested at Orlando International Airport. She is charged with several offenses, the most serious two being attempted murder and attempted kidnapping. She is alleged to have attacked Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman in the airport parking lot. The two are involved in an apparent love triangle with NASA Astronaut Bill Oefelein. Nowak first and only space mission was on STS-121 in July of 2006.

February 8: Model Anna Nicole Smith dies in Hollywood, Florida at the age of 39.

February 18: Nascar racing driver Kevin Harvick wins the Daytona 500.

February 25: The movie "The Departed" wins the Oscar for best picture at the 79th Academy Awards.

February 25: Hail from a thunderstorm does significant damage to the foam insulation on the external tank of the STS-117 shuttle stack on the launch pad. The damage requires a roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. This repair delays the STS-117 launch from its original March 15 target.

February 26: A meltdown in the Chinese stock market sends shock waves through financial markets around the world. The Dow Jones Industrial average closes down 416.02 points. It is the worst fall for the Dow since 9/11.

March 18: The Collings Foundation brings it's 2007 Wings of Freedom Tour to Love Field in Dallas, Texas. I have an opportunity to fly on three historic bombers from the World War II era. Those aircraft included a B-24 Liberator, a B17 Flying Fortress, and a B-25 Mitchell. For the story of my experience on the B-24 follow the B-24 Flight link. For the story of my experience on the B-17 follow the B-17 Flight link. For my experience on the B-25 follow the B-25 Flight link.

March 23: Iranian sailors harass and takes hostage 15 British sailors who were working in Iraqi waters.

April 5: Iran releases the 15 British Naval hostages that they took on March 23.

April 7: A Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft carrying cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Oleg Kotov and space tourist Charles Simonyi blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a mission headed for the International Space Station.

April 20: NASA contract employee Bill Phillips kills his supervisor David Beverly and himself during a hostage standoff at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

April 21: A US Navy Blue Angels jet crashes during an air show at Beaufort, South Carolina killing it's pilot Kevin Davis.

April 25: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 13,089.89 to close above 13,000 for the first time in its history.

May 3: Astronaut Wally Schirra, one of NASA's original seven astronauts passes away at the age of 84. For a short biography and my thoughts on Schirra follow the Wally Schirra link.

May 27: Dario Franchitti wins the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500.

May 31: A calender Blue moon occurs in the Western Hemisphere.

June 8: NASA launches space shuttle Atlantis on STS-117. It is another mission to continue the construction of the International Space Station and carries into space Nebraska's first astronaut, Clayton Anderson. My wife, two of our grandchildren, and me watch the launch with nearly 20 astronauts from the Banana Creek VIP site at the Kennedy Space Center. For the story and photos from this launch, please follow the STS-117 link.

June 6: The Anaheim Ducks defeat the Ottawa Senators 4 games to 1 to win the 2007 NHL Stanley Cup.

June 14: The San Antonio Spurs defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 4 games to 0 to win the 2007 NBA championship.

June 29: Apple Computer releases the iPhone in the United States.

May 29 : Two terrorist car bomb attacks fail in London.

June 30: Two doctors in Glasgow, Scotland attempt a terrorist attack on the Glasgow International Airport. They attempted to ram a Jeep Cherokee into the airport's main terminal and then set it on fire.

July 11: Lady Bird Johnson dies at the age of 94. Lady Bird Johnson was the wife of U.S. President Lyndon Banes Johnson. She was born in Karnac, Texas with the name of Claudia Alta Taylor.

July 19: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 14,000 for the first time in history.

July 21: The seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter book series goes on sale. The title of this installment is "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." It sells over 8.3 million copies.

July 24: The minimum wage in the United States moves up from $5.15 and hour to $5.85. It is the first increase in ten years.

August 27: U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez submits his resignation to President Bush. Gonzalez had be under pressure over the firing of 9 federal prosecutors in 2006.

September 2: North Korea agrees to disassemble its nuclear fuel plants after a 2 day meeting with a U.S. State Department representative.

September 6: Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti dies at the age of 71.

September 18: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as military leader if he is re-elected as President of Pakistan.

September 19: Former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea is arrested and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Chea was the chief ideologist for the Khmer Rouge and the second in command to the notorious Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge regime was respnsible for the massacre of between 1 and 2 million Cambodians.

October 3: North Korea agrees to dismantle all of its nuclear facilities by the end of 2007. For this act, North Korea was promised 950,000 metric tons of fuel oil and financial aid. The United States under the direction of President Bush was to begin the process of removing North Korea from the list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

October 5: U.S. Olympic track star Marion Jones admits to the use of steroids. She had won five medals in the 2000 Olympics. She was stripped of her Olympic victories and returned the medals.

October 6: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf wins the election for a third term as his nation's president.

October 12: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations Panel on Climate Change are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This award recognized their work for the education of the world about human caused climate change.

October 18: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan after 8 years in exile. While her convey was processing through her jubilant supports a suicide bomber attacked and killed up to 135 people. Bhutto survived that attack.

October 23: NASA launches space shuttle Discover on mission STS-1280. This mission was another in the continuing series of construction mission for the International Space Station. One of the tasks for the mission was to deliver the Italian built Harmony space station module. ISS crew member Clayton Anderson was relieved by Astronaut Dan Tani. The crew of Discovery at its launch was Pam Melroy, George Zamka, Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Douglas Wheelock, Paolo Nespoli, and Dan Tani.

October 28: The 2007 World series was won by the Boston Red Sox. They swept the Colorado Rockies 4 games to none.

October 30: Singer and actor Robert Goulet passes away at the age of 73.

November 1: Brigadier General Paul Tibbets passes away at the age of 92. Tibbets was the pilot and commander of the Enola Gay during World War II when the first atomic bomb was used it combat. The bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima in Japan.

November 3: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declares a state of emergency in Pakistan. He suspends the country's constitution. He also removes the judges from the Pakistan Supreme Court. Police arrest upwards of 500 people who oppose the Musharraf government.

November 6: Six American soldiers were killed in Iraq. This raised the death toll in 2007 to 852 lives. That number marked the most deaths of U.S. soldiers in the Iraq war since it began in 2003.

November 7: The space shuttle Discovery lands after the successful complete of STS-120. This mission held the distinction of being the longest space shuttle mission to day. It had a mission elapsed time of 15 days, 02, hours, 23 minutes, and 55 seconds. Astronauts on board during the landing of Discovery were Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka, Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Douglas Wheelock, Paolo Nespoli, and Clayton Anderson.

November 10: Author Norman Mailer passes away at the age of 84.

November 15: An estimated 3,500 people die in southern Bangladesh as a result from Cyclone Sidr. The cyclone devastates the area with sustained winds over 100 miles per hour.