1877 – Thomas Edison sketched his idea for the phonograph, and may have even completed a model. The first working model wasn’t completed until December 6.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/recon/jb_recon_phongrph_1.html
1960 – The first NASA communications satellite, Echo 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral. The satellite was a balloon of mylar polyester film.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1960-009A
1977 – The space shuttle Enterprise carried out its first free flight test, when the orbiter was released from the back of a 747 in flight.
http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/aug-12-1977-shuttle-enterprise-test-9563114
1981 – IBM introduced the model 5150 personal computer. It had a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor and used Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system.
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/pc25/pc25_birth.html
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.