On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier flying the X-1 at Mach 1.07 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m)over the Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert. On the ground, no one had ever heard a sonic boom before. It rattled the photographs of the … Continue reading
Apollo 12 was hit by lightning twice shortly after its launch on November 14, 1969. Briefly considering aborting the flight, the astronauts remained calm. Astronaut Alan Bean recalls the events and how they remained steady and calm on their journey to the moon.
The Hughes Flying Boat—the largest aircraft ever built—is piloted by designer Howard Hughes on its first and only flight. Built with laminated birch and spruce, the massive wooden aircraft had a wingspan longer than a football field and was designed to carry more than 700 men to battle. Howard Hughes … Continue reading
Internet pioneer and UCLA computer science professor Leonard Kleinrock discusses the process of connecting the first host computer to the fledgling Internet, then known as the ARPANET, in September 1969, and sending the first host-to-host message a month later on October 29, 1969 between himself and Charlie Klein. They typed … Continue reading
Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone have an amazing and rare filmed chat following the Lights Golden Jubilee–a campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of Thomas Edison’ invention of the commercially available electric light bulb, which ended with an event held in Dearborn, Michigan on October 21, 1929. Later that … Continue reading
John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, discusses firing and working with Steve Jobs. “Do you want to come with me and change the world, or do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of the world.” Sculley, who had been head of Pepsi, was courted by Jobs to … Continue reading
Arthur C. Clarke, futurist and science fiction writer, predicted the future of computers and the internet remarkably accurately to an ABC reporter in 1974. Understanding how our lives would be transformed by the coming computer and digital age, he foresaw how people would be able to get their news and … Continue reading
Hear Elon Musk describe how his life changed after selling his first company, Zip2, to Compaq. Musk used the bulk of his nearly $22MM personal profit to launch X.Com which would become PayPal. He also was able to have a McClaren F-1 delivered to his home–shown here. Musk, of course, … Continue reading
Dr. Oliver Sacks talks about people (including himself) who have neurological difficulty recognizing faces, and how they adapt and compensate. From his book, THE MIND’S EYE. Dr. Sacks studied quirks of the human mind and became well know for his study that became the book and popular movie AWAKENINGS.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was designed to explore Mars from orbit. It was launched on August 12, 2005, and reached Martian orbit on March 10, 2006. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin, and the mission is managed by the California Institute of Technology. In this video, some of the … Continue reading
