In 1957 – The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 carrying the first animal ever to enter orbit, a dog named Laika. It would go on to inspire the saddest Jonathan Coulton song ever, “Space Doggity” and the band Laika and the Cosmonauts.
In 1973 – NASA launched Mariner 10 towards Mercury. It would become the first space probe to reach the planet.
In 1992 – Tim Berners-Lee posted a page describing the World Wide Web. It’s the oldest page still served on the Web.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like Tech History? Get Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.