SortStack #520 — 2027-11-11

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. William the Conqueror defeats King Harold at the Battle of Hastings 1066

   The Bayeux Tapestry — actually an embroidery nearly 70 meters long — tells the story, including Harold's famous (and disputed) arrow in the eye.

2. Queen Victoria dies after the longest reign in British history to date 1901

   She reigned for 63 years and her children married into so many royal houses she was called 'the grandmother of Europe.'

3. Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space 1961

   His single orbit lasted 108 minutes, and he parachuted to the ground separately from his capsule — landing in a field where a farmer and her granddaughter stared in disbelief.

4. Humans walk on the Moon for the first time 1969

   The Apollo guidance computer had less processing power than a modern pocket calculator — and alarms from it nearly aborted the landing.

5. The Live Aid concerts are broadcast from London and Philadelphia 1985

   Phil Collins played both venues in one day, crossing the Atlantic by Concorde. Queen's twenty-minute set is widely ranked the greatest live performance ever.

6. SpaceX launches its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time 2018

   The test payload was Elon Musk's own red Tesla Roadster, with a spacesuited mannequin named Starman at the wheel — it is still orbiting the Sun.

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