August 30th, 2008

Today in History

1990:
Tatarstan declares independence from the RSFSR.

1984:
STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.

1962:
Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since the war and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.

1918:
Fanya Kaplan, an assassin, shoots and seriously injures Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. This, along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky days earlier, prompts the decree for Red Terror.

1862:
American Civil War: Union forces are defeated in Second Battle of Bull Run