Moments in Time: First Space Shuttle
The History Channel
On Sept. 14, 1964, author John Steinbeck was honored with the U.S. Medal of Freedom. He had previously received a number of other honors and awards for his work, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1940 for "The Grapes of Wrath" and a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.
On Sept. 15, 1931, a small dirigible docked briefly at the mooring mast on top of the new Empire State Building before winds forced it away. While hopes were high for the creation of an airship port in midtown Manhattan, they were never realized.
On Sept. 16, 1810, Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla launched the Mexican War of Independence with the issue of his Grito de Dolores ("Cry of Dolores"), a tract calling for the end of 300 years of Spanish rule in Mexico, redistribution of land and racial equality. Thousands assembled at his banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe and soon after a peasant army was marching to Mexico City.
On Sept. 17, 1976, NASA publicly unveiled the Enterprise, its first space shuttle, in Palmdale, California. The following year it became the first space shuttle to fly freely when it was lifted to 25,000 feet by a Boeing 747 airplane and then released to glide back to Edwards Air Force Base.
On Sept. 18, 1981, the 20,000-car parking lot at Canada's West Edmonton Mall earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest parking lot in the world, a distinction it's held for years, though some have disagreed, saying that because the lot is half indoors and half outdoors, it's not one structure but two.
On Sept. 19, 1955, after a decade-long rule, Argentine president Juan Domingo Perón was deposed in a military coup.
On Sept. 20, 2012, 16 members of a dissident Amish group in Ohio were convicted of federal hate crimes and conspiracy for forcibly cutting the beards and hair of fellow Amish with whom they had religious differences.
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