Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 May 18
From today's featured article
Apollo 10 (May 18–26, 1969) was the fourth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program, and the second to orbit the Moon. NASA described it as a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing, and designated it an "F" mission. While John Young remained in the Command and Service Module orbiting the Moon, Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan flew the Apollo Lunar Module (pictured) to within 14.4 kilometers (7.8 nmi) of the lunar surface, the point at which powered descent for landing would begin on a landing mission, before rejoining Young in the Command and Service Module. While in the Lunar Module, Stafford and Cernan photographed the site where Apollo 11 would land two months later. After orbiting the Moon 31 times over 61.6 hours, Apollo 10 returned safely to Earth, setting a record that still stands for the highest velocity achieved by a crewed spacecraft. Both Young and Cernan would walk on the Moon later in the Apollo program; Stafford flew again in 1975 on Apollo–Soyuz. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
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- ... that the 2019 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball recruiting class (pictured) is known as the Freshies after the name of the group chat they created before their freshman year?
- ... that in 1956, a Las Vegas TV station may have been the only 24-hour TV station in the U.S.?
- ... that a photograph inspired by one of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings shows 14 Israeli soldiers and was described as a "homoerotic challenge to Israeli machismo"?
- ... that John Sebastian composed the song "Rain on the Roof" after he spent a night listening to the rain with his wife?
- ... that Satrio Sastrodiredjo and Moerachman, both former mayors of Surabaya, Indonesia, were held as political prisoners in the same prison after the 30 September Movement in 1965?
- ... that the 2019 book Pacifying the Homeland was compared to an ice-cold shower for individuals acclimatized to mass surveillance in the US due to its pervasiveness in daily life?
- ... that in 1994, Anthony Pople created two computer programs to analyse classical music?
- ... that the Cantonese cooking channel Made With Lau began generating about US$50,000 per month in YouTube advertising revenue in under a year?
In the news
- Flooding (pictured) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy causes 11 deaths and widespread disruption, including the cancellation of the Formula One Grand Prix.
- Cyclone Mocha strikes Myanmar and Bangladesh, killing more than 80 people.
- In the Thai general election, an opposition coalition led by the Move Forward Party wins a majority in the House of Representatives.
- Sweden's Loreen wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Tattoo".
- In cycling, Annemiek van Vleuten wins La Vuelta Femenina.
On this day
May 18: Global Accessibility Awareness Day (2023); Haitian Flag Day in Haiti (1803); Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Crimean Tatar Genocide in Ukraine
- 1388 – At the Battle of Buir Lake, a Ming Chinese army led by general Lan Yu defeated the forces of Tögüs Temür, the Mongol khan of Northern Yuan.
- 1936 – In a crime that captivated Japan, Sada Abe (pictured) strangled her lover, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her for several days until her arrest.
- 1952 – First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces overran a French and Laotian garrison at Muong Khoua, leaving only four survivors.
- 1965 – Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria.
- 1996 – Ireland won the Eurovision song contest for the seventh time, the highest number of wins for any country before Sweden tied it in 2023.
- Omar Khayyam (b. 1048)
- Thomas Midgley Jr. (b. 1889)
- Mary McLeod Bethune (d. 1955)
Today's featured picture
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Kumquats are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae. Their taxonomy is disputed. They were previously classified as forming the now-historical genus Fortunella or placed within the genus Citrus, sensu lato. Different classifications have alternatively assigned them to anywhere from a single species, C. japonica, to numerous species representing each cultivar. This photograph, depicting one halved and two whole kumquats, was focus-stacked from 22 separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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