July 20

Today is Space Exploration Day. 1865: The Patent Act of 1865 required that patent fees to be turned over to the U.S. Treasury. 1937: Radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi died. 1942: The first unit of the WACs (Women's Army Corps) began basic training. 1960: The submerged USS George Washington off the coast of Cape Canaveral, FL, executed the first test launch of a pair of Polaris missile from a submarine at sea. 1969: At 4:18 EDT, the Apollo 11 lunar module landed at the Sea of Tranquility, and later astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon; they left an American flag and a plaque inscribed with, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the Moon--July 1969 A.D.--We came in peace for all mankind." 1976: NASA's Viking I Lander made the first-ever successful landing on Mars. 1995: Inventure Place, home of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, was dedicated in Akron, OH. 1999: After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, the Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.