One of my favorite movie speeches.

I posted that in Little Known Facts! So it must be true.

On this day in 1959, NASA launched the Explorer 6 satellite. A few days later, it sent back the first ever photograph of Earth from space, this grainy, shaky look at the US West Coast:


On this day in 1974, French acrobat Philippe Petit, with help from a few friends, strung a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center and then performed the highest high-wire act in history, balancing 1350 feet above the pavement for about 50 minutes before being arrested for criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.

A few days later, the city, in a phenomenal display of cool, agreed to drop charges if Petit would do another, approved public performance in a safer environment. He did so a week later in Central Park.

Petit went on to perform with Ringling Brothers and in 1975, set a world record for the longest high wire walk by going across the interior of the Superdome. I was there.