📅 #OnThisDay in 1991 (34 years ago): The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1991 (34 years ago): Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1968 (57 years ago): The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the famous Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1972 (53 years ago): The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, surviving by cannibalism. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1986 (39 years ago): Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without refueling. The flight ended at 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2010 (15 years ago): The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the policy banning homosexuals serving in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1989 (36 years ago): The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was reopened as East and West Germany continued moving toward reunification. Berliners had been unable to use the gate since 1961, when the newly built Berlin Wall blocked access to it. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1955 (70 years ago): Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2007 (18 years ago): Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1972 (53 years ago): The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1997 (28 years ago): James Cameron's Titanic, a drama about the doomed ocean liner starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, premiered. It later became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1898 (127 years ago): Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land speed record of 63.159 km/h (39.245 mph) in a Jeantaud electric car. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2019 (6 years ago): The United States House of Representatives impeaches Donald Trump for the first time. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1935 (90 years ago): First flight of the Douglas DC-3. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1989 (36 years ago): The Simpsons premieres on television with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1971 (54 years ago): The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1973 (52 years ago): The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2001 (24 years ago): The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to stabilize it, without fixing its famous lean. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1911 (114 years ago): Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2004 (21 years ago): The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is formally inaugurated near Millau, France. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2002 (23 years ago): The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members on May 1, 2004. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2003 (22 years ago) Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces; three years later he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and was executed. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1977 (48 years ago): Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, had its world premiere; the film was a huge hit, as was the accompanying disco sound track by the Bee Gees. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2000 (25 years ago): The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a fair recount of ballots in Florida could not be performed by the deadline for certifying the state's electors, effectively ending the 2000 U.S. presidential election and awarding the presidency to George W. Bush. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1936 (89 years ago): King Edward VIII abdicates, giving up the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1972 (53 years ago): Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and final Apollo mission to land on the Moon. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1901 (124 years ago): The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1971 (54 years ago): Lucasfilm Ltd. is founded as a film and television production company by George Lucas in San Francisco, California. It is best known for creating and producing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1968 (57 years ago): Douglas Engelbart demonstrates in "The Mother of All Demos" the computer system NLS (oN-Line System) to a live audience in San Francisco, showcasing for the first time the mouse, word processing, windows and other modern computing concepts. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1979 (46 years ago): The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of only two diseases that have been driven to extinction (with rinderpest in 2011 being the other). #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1980 (45 years ago): John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 2019 (6 years ago): First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1941 (84 years ago): The Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor. The attack killed 2,403 service members and wounded 1,178 more, and sank or destroyed six U.S. ships. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1972 (53 years ago): Apollo 17, the last Apollo Moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1884 (141 years ago): The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. is completed. It was the world's tallest structure between 1884 and 1889, after which it was overtaken by the Eiffel Tower. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1917 (108 years ago): Finland declares independence from the Russian Empire. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1952 (73 years ago): Great Smog of London: Fog creeps in, as still winds and cold temperatures cause pollution fueled by coal smoke to stagnate; lasting 4 days, over 8,000 deaths attributed to conditions. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1955 (70 years ago): Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery, Alabama by Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1993 (32 years ago): Astronauts begin repair of Hubble telescope in space. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1954 (71 years ago): The first Burger King fast-food restaurant opens in Miami, Florida. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1991 (34 years ago): Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) ceased operations. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1973 (52 years ago): NASA space probe Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1992 (33 years ago): The first SMS text message was sent. It simply read, "Merry Christmas". #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1994 (31 years ago): Sony releases the first PlayStation game console in Japan. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1971 (54 years ago): The United Arab Emirates is formed. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1991 (34 years ago): Poland become the first nation to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1993 (32 years ago): Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed by police in Medellín. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1988 (37 years ago): World AIDS Day is proclaimed worldwide by the UN member states. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1990 (35 years ago): Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet beneath the seabed. #OTD

📅 #OnThisDay in 1991 (34 years ago): Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union. #OTD