newsweek:

nwkarchivist:

On This Date 45 Years Ago:

‘FIRE IN THE SPACECRAFT!’

Relaxing supine in contour couches in a newly minted spacecraft, the three astronauts seemed safe as men watching television in a living room.  Then at 6:31 p.m. EST it happened.  “Fire in the spacecraft!” an astronaut shouted over the communications hookup. On the TV monitor, the men in the blockhouse simultaneously saw the capsule obscured in a flash of fire and smoke.  It was over in an instant.  The atmosphere in the cabin was pure, 100 per cent oxygen.  With a great whoosh, like the sound of an oven being lit, the pure 02 in the cabin made every combustible item in the ship burn with super intensity.  Death for all three astronauts was instantaneous- either by incineration or asphyxiation.

Newsweek February 6, 1967

This happened on January 27th, 1967—45 years ago today. The dead: Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. May they rest in space.

(via discoverynews)

100 Years Ago Today: Robert Falcon Scott Reaches the South Pole

One hundred years ago this winter, two polar expeditions disembarked on the northern edges of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica with the goal of reaching the South Pole. One party, led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, reached 90º S on 14 December 1911. The second party, led by British officer Robert Falcon Scott, arrived a month later on 17 January 1912. Amundsen and his men returned to announce their victory, while Scott and his party of four men died on the trek back, succumbing to starvation and cold. (Blurb via time to eat the dogs)

todaysdocument:

French Architect and engineer Gustave Eiffel died on this day in 1923. 

December 15, 1832 – December 27, 1923

WWII: Europe: France; “American soldiers watch as the Tricolor flies from the Eiffel Tower again”, ca. 08/25/1944

(via npr)

ckck:

The first air show at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. September 30th, 1909. Photographed in Autochrome Lumière by Léon Gimpel.

liquidnight:

Arthur Leipzig

Brooklyn Bridge, 1946

From Growing Up in New York

lookhigh:

I’ve got your Instagram right here

scanzen:

Edwin Land of Polaroid demonstrates his new invention. LIFE, October 27, 1972.

(via)

(via nprfreshair)

life:

From deep in LIFE.com’s archives, some of the earliest photos of Egypt…

Early Photos: Egypt in the 1800s

bestrooftalkever:

madeleinepascal:

dig. 

tight.