SortStack #1234 — 2029-10-25

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens 1896

   Just 14 nations and 241 athletes competed — all men — and winners received silver medals, not gold.

2. Richard Nixon becomes the first US president to resign 1974

   A month after he left office, his successor Gerald Ford granted him a full pardon — a decision many believe cost Ford the next election.

3. 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.

4. The Berlin Wall falls 1989

   A flustered official misread new travel rules at a press conference, saying they took effect 'immediately.' Crowds swamped the checkpoints within hours.

5. The Philae probe makes the first-ever landing on a comet 2014

   Philae's harpoons failed and it bounced twice — the first bounce lasted nearly two hours in the comet's feeble gravity before it settled in a shadowy crevice.

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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