This has always ticked me off.<br /> <br />July 20, 1969, for example, is the date Apollo 11 landed on the Moon and man took his first steps on another world. <br /><br />It is also the date that Viking I achieved another human first: the first successful unmanned landing on Mars in 1976. <br /><br />The U.S.'s Clementine space craft, after spending two months photographing the Moon, was ejected out of an Earth-Moon orbit -- probably on its way to Mars -- on July 20, 1994. <br /><br />July 20th is also the date of a “Flashback” segment in 1999 of CNN’s “Headline News” in illustrating the Viking I mission by showing images of the “Face of Mars” and the day of George Bush’s announcement in 1989 regarding his dramatic 30-year plan for a Space Exploration Initiative culminating in a manner Mars landing.<br /><br />Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom’s orbital flight in 1961 occurred near the July 20th date (after the launch was delayed because of bad weather, and 38 years later to the day, the capsule was raised from the floor of the Atlantic ocean just north of the Bahamas. The otherwise successful flight had been marred by the capsule’s hatch opening prematurely, and the capsule flooding with sea water prior to being hoisted by an attendant helicopter. <br /><br />On other fronts, on July 20, 1964, the Russian deep space probe, Zond 3, sent back the first photos of the dark side of the Moon. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter the week of the 16th through the 23rd of July 1994 -- the biggest chunk 'splashing down' on the 25th anniversary of the moon landing. On July 20th of that same year, a crop circle appeared overnight in customary fashion which seemed to mimic the Jupiter incident. The following year, on July 22nd, the Hale-Bopp comet was discovered. July 20th is also included in the Mayan Calendar corresponding to “days out of time”. <br /><br />My birthday is July 19th!!!!! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>