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Elena Vance

-Apr 4, 2026, 11:56 PM

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Main Page From today's featured article Apollo 6 (flown April 4, 1968) was the third and final uncrewed flight in the United States' Apollo program and the second test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. Apollo 6 was intended to show that the Saturn V's third stage, the S-IVB, could propel itself and the Apollo spacecraft to lunar distances. Once components arrived at Kennedy Space Center, testing proceeded slowly, often delayed by testing of the Saturn V intended for Apollo 4, but once that launched, there were fewer delays.

NASA planned a flight of about ten hours, but during launch (pictured) vibrations damaged some of the Rocketdyne J-2 engines, and the resulting parking orbit was more elliptical than planned. The third-stage engine failed to restart, and flight controllers elected to repeat the flight profile of Apollo 4, achieving a high orbit and high-speed return. Despite the engine failures, the flight qualified the Saturn V for crewed launches, and it was first used for crewed flight in December 1968 with Apollo 8. (Full article...) Did you know ... - ...

that Carmen Alfaro Asins (pictured) discovered a previously unknown Punic mint by comparing a coin inscription to an 11th-century tablet? - ... that the magazine Annida refused to hire smokers for its cover shoots? - ... that art historian Millard Meiss claimed that the Master of Walters 219 was "one of the first artists to show a skeleton riding a bull"? - ... that lungworms led to the creation of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center? - ... that the exhibition Monuments displays decommissioned Confederate statues alongside contemporary art? - ...

that Tyren Montgomery went from flag football player to NFL draft prospect? - ... that Djauhari Oratmangun successfully pressured the Dutch government to change its recognition of Indonesia's independence date? - ... that the Port Manatee Railroad has carried lumber, fertilizer, and, at one point, a circus train? - ... that in r/bald, commenters tell posters to shave their heads with an anime meme? In the news - NASA launches the lunar flyby mission Artemis II (pictured), the first crewed mission past low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

In Mongolia, Nyam-Osoryn Uchral is sworn in as prime minister following the resignation of Gombojavyn Zandanshatar. - The Social Democrats, led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, remain the largest party after the Danish general election, with no political bloc winning a majority of seats. - In Italy, voters reject a reform of the judicial system in a constitutional referendum. On this day - 1268 – The Byzantine Empire and the Republic of Venice signed a five-year peace treaty.

1581 – Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake for completing a circumnavigation of the world. - 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong (pictured) was adopted for post-colonial use during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. - 2011 – Georgian Airways Flight 834 crashed at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa, killing 32 people and leaving one survivor. - Elena Glinskaya (d. 1538) - Philippa Fawcett (b. 1868) - Addo Bonetti (b.

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