SortStack #3453 — 2035-11-22

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The American colonies declare independence from Britain 1776

   Most delegates didn't sign the Declaration until August. John Adams predicted Americans would forever celebrate the second of July.

2. Humans fly for the first time aboard a Montgolfier hot-air balloon 1783

   The first balloon passengers, weeks earlier, were a sheep, a duck, and a rooster — sent up before King Louis XVI to test whether the air aloft was breathable.

3. 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.

4. Nelson Mandela walks free after twenty-seven years in prison 1990

   Four years after his release he was elected South Africa's president — and he later joked that he was 'a pensioner taking up a new job' at age 75.

5. NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars 2012

   It was lowered to the surface on cables by a hovering rocket-powered 'sky crane' — a landing sequence engineers nicknamed the 'seven minutes of terror.'

6. The container ship Ever Given wedges itself across the Suez Canal 2021

   For six days it blocked an estimated $10 billion of trade per day, while a single excavator digging at its bow became a global meme.

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