Moments in Time: Cosmic Collision
The History Channel
On June 29, 1967, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards faced charges stemming from the raid of his Redlands estate five months earlier. No drugs were found but he was sentenced to a year in prison, spending just one night there, however, as he was granted bail the next day. His conviction was later overturned.
On June 30, 1908, a fiery explosion flattened 800 square miles of forest in Siberia's Tunguska region, believed to have been caused by an asteroid or comet. It remains Earth's biggest recorded cosmic collision.
On July 1, 2003, a female employee at a Colorado resort filed sexual misconduct charges against basketball star Kobe Bryant. Bryant was questioned by authorities, provided a DNA sample and eventually admitted to what he insisted was a consensual encounter. In early March 2005, he and the accuser settled her civil lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.
On July 2, 1977, Hollywood composer Bill Conti, a relative unknown in Hollywood, scored a No. 1 pop hit with the single "Gonna Fly Now" (the theme from "Rocky"). The film went on to launch both his and Sylvester Stallone's careers.
On July 3, 1988, during U.S. naval operations in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistook for a hostile military aircraft, killing everyone aboard. The U.S. Navy report blamed crew error caused by psychological stress on men in combat for the first time, and in 1996 the U.S. agreed to pay $62 million in damages to the families of those who died.
On July 4, 1965, more than two dozen LGBTQ activists showed up in front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall for the first "Reminder" gay rights demonstration. While it drew little media coverage, it is now considered a precursor to the wider gay liberation movement.
On July 5, 1937, George A. Hormel & Company debuted a canned luncheon meat called Spam, which not only gained rapid popularity for its convenience and affordability, but eventually launched annual festivals such as the wittily named Spam Jam and Spamarama.
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