Historical Events on Wednesday, 24th September

24/09/2023

NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule containing samples from the asteroid 101955 Bennu successfully lands back on Earth.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program and for research in aeronautics and space. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NASA operates ten field centers across the U.S. and is organized into mission directorates for Science, Space Operations, Exploration Systems Development, Space Technology, Aeronautics Research, and Mission Support. Established in 1958, NASA succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space program a distinct civilian orientation focused on peaceful applications. Since then, it has led most American spaceflight programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the Apollo program, Skylab, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station (ISS) and the ongoing multi-national Artemis program.

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24/09/2015

At least 1,100 people are killed and another 934 wounded after a stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

On 24 September 2015, a fatal crowd crush resulted in the death of more than 2,000 individuals, many of whom were suffocated or crushed, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, making it the deadliest Hajj disaster in history. Estimates of the number of dead vary: the Associated Press reported 2,411 dead, while Agence France-Presse reported 2,236 killed. Based on the total of the individual national reports cited in the table below, at least 2,431 lives were claimed. The government of Saudi Arabia officially reported two days after the event that there had been 769 deaths and 934 injured. These figures remained official at the time of the next year's Hajj and were never updated. The largest number of victims were from Iran, followed by Mali and Nigeria.

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24/09/2014

The Mars Orbiter Mission makes India the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first nation in the world to do so in its first attempt.

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), unofficially known as Mangalyaan, is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by ISRO. It was India's first interplanetary mission and it made ISRO the fourth space agency to achieve Mars orbit, after Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit. It also made ISRO the first national space agency in the world to do so with an indigenously developed propulsion system and the second national space agency to succeed on its maiden attempt, after the European Space Agency accomplished this in 2003 using a Roscosmos Soyuz/Fregat rocket.

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24/09/2013

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes southern Pakistan, killing at least 327 people.

The moment magnitude scale is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude based on its seismic moment. Mw was defined in a 1979 paper by Thomas C. Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori. Similar to the local magnitude/Richter scale (ML ) defined by Charles Francis Richter in 1935, it uses a logarithmic scale; small earthquakes have approximately the same magnitudes on both scales. Despite the difference, news media often use the term "Richter scale" when referring to the moment magnitude scale.

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24/09/2009

The G20 summit begins in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance.

The 2009 G20 Pittsburgh Summit was the third meeting of the G20 heads of state and heads of government, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, to discuss financial markets and the world economy.

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South African Airlink Flight 8911 crashes near Durban International Airport in Durban, South Africa, killing the captain and injuring the rest of the crew.

South African Airlink Flight 8911 was a positioning flight from Durban International Airport to Pietermaritzburg Airport, South Africa, operated by a British Aerospace Jetstream 41, crashed into the grounds of Merebank Secondary School, Durban shortly after take-off on 24 September 2009, injuring the three occupants of the aircraft and one on the ground. The captain of the flight subsequently died of his injuries on 7 October 2009.

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24/09/2008

Thabo Mbeki resigns as president of South Africa.

Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician and economist who served as the president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC). Before that, he was deputy president under Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999.

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24/09/2007

Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-government protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years.

The Saffron Revolution was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September and October 2007 in Myanmar. The protests were triggered by the decision of the national military government to remove subsidies on the sales prices of fuel. The national government is the only supplier of fuels and the removal of the price subsidy immediately caused diesel and petrol prices to increase by 66–100% and the price of compressed natural gas for buses to increase 500% in less than a week.

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24/09/2005

Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating portions of southwestern Louisiana and extreme southeastern Texas.

Hurricane Rita is the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico, now tied with Hurricane Milton of 2024, as well as being one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record overall. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes in terms of barometric pressure ever recorded, Rita was the seventeenth named storm, tenth hurricane, fifth major hurricane, and third Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 season. It was also the earliest-forming 17th named storm in the Atlantic until Tropical Storm Rene in 2020. Rita formed near The Bahamas from a tropical wave on September 18, 2005, that originally developed off the coast of West Africa. It moved westward, and after passing through the Florida Straits, Rita entered an environment of abnormally warm waters. Moving west-northwest, it rapidly intensified to reach peak winds of 180 mph (285 km/h), achieving Category 5 status on September 21. However, it weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana, between Sabine Pass, Texas and Holly Beach, Louisiana, with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Rapidly weakening over land, Rita degenerated into a large low-pressure area over the lower Mississippi Valley by September 26.

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24/09/1996

Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996, but has not entered into force, as it has not been ratified by all the required states. The treaty will establish the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization to oversee monitoring, which is currently done by a Preparatory Commission.

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24/09/1993

The Cambodian monarchy is restored, with Norodom Sihanouk as king.

The monarchy of Cambodia is the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The king of Cambodia is the head of state and head of the ruling Royal House of Norodom. In the contemporary period, the king's power has been limited to that of a symbolic figurehead. The monarchy had been in existence since at least 50 AD except during its abolition from 1970 to 1993. Since 1993, the king of Cambodia has been an elected monarch, making Cambodia one of the few elective monarchies of the world. The king is elected for life by the Royal Council of the Throne, which consists of several senior political and religious figures. Candidates are chosen from among male descendants of King Ang Duong who are at least 30 years old, from the two royal houses of Cambodia.

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24/09/1975

Southwest Face expedition members become the first persons to reach the summit of Mount Everest by any of its faces, instead of using a ridge route.

The 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition was the first to successfully climb Mount Everest by ascending one of its faces rather than along its ridges. In the post-monsoon season Chris Bonington led the expedition that used rock climbing techniques to put fixed ropes up the face from the Western Cwm to just below the South Summit. A key aspect of the success of the climb was the scaling of the cliffs of the Rock Band at about 8,200 metres (27,000 ft) by Nick Estcourt and Tut Braithwaite.

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24/09/1973

Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal.

Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers 36,125 square kilometres (13,948 sq mi) with an estimated population of 2,080,000. It borders Senegal to its north and Guinea to its southeast.

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24/09/1972

Japan Airlines Flight 472 lands at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India, overrunning the runway resulting in 11 injuries.

Japan Air Lines Flight 472 was a flight from London to Tokyo via Frankfurt, Rome, Beirut, Tehran, Bombay, Bangkok and Hong Kong. On September 24, 1972, the flight landed at Juhu Aerodrome near Bombay, India instead of the city's much larger Santacruz Airport and overran the runway, resulting in the aircraft being written off after being damaged beyond economic repair. All 122 on board survived, although nine passengers and two crew members were injured.

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24/09/1960

USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched.

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is a decommissioned United States Navy aircraft carrier. In 1958, she became the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, and the world, as well as the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed "Big E". At 1,123 feet (342 m), she is the longest naval vessel ever built and the only ship of her class, which was originally planned to have five other ships. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 t) displacement ranks her class as the third-largest carrier class, after the Nimitz class and the Gerald R. Ford class. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.

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24/09/1959

TAI Flight 307 crashes during takeoff from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport in Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, killing 55 people.

TAI Flight 307 was a scheduled flight operated by Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) between France and the Ivory Coast via Mali operated by a Douglas DC-7C. On 24 September 1959, the aircraft crashed during its departure from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, France when it flew into trees. All of the flight crew and 45 of the 56 passengers on board were killed; the other 11 passengers were seriously injured.

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24/09/1957

President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation.

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinate, and execute brigade-sized air assault operations that can be conducted in one period of darkness, at distances up to 500 nautical miles (926 kilometers), to seize key terrain and hold it for up to 14 days. In recent years, the 101st was active in security force assistance and counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, in Afghanistan in 2015–2016, and in Syria, as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2018–2021.

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24/09/1954

AEC Routemaster, the iconic London bus was introduced.

The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one was delivered in 1968. The layout of the vehicle was conventional for the time, with a half-cab, front-mounted engine and open rear platform, although the coach version was fitted with rear platform doors. Forward entrance vehicles with platform doors were also produced as was a unique front-entrance prototype with the engine mounted transversely at the rear.

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The Cochabamba–Santa Cruz highway connecting western and eastern Bolivia is inaugurated.

Route 7 is a national road in Bolivia. Prior to its opening in 1954 western and eastern Bolivia were poorly connected. It remains the main road connecting Bolivia's montainious west with the tropical lowlands to the east.

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24/09/1950

The eastern United States is covered by a thick haze from the Chinchaga fire in western Canada.

The Chinchaga fire, also known as the Wisp fire, Chinchaga River fire and Fire 19, was a forest fire that burned in northern British Columbia and Alberta in the summer and early fall of 1950. With a final size of between 1,400,000 and 1,700,000 hectares, it is the single largest recorded fire in North American history. The authorities allowed the fire to burn freely, following local forest management policy considering the lack of settlements in the region. The Chinchaga fire produced large amounts of smoke, creating the "1950 Great Smoke Pall", observed across eastern North America and Europe. As the existence of the massive fire was not well-publicized, and the smoke was mostly in the upper atmosphere and could not be smelled, there was much speculation about the atmospheric haze and its provenance. The Chinchaga firestorm's "historic smoke pall" caused "observations of blue suns and moons in the United States and Europe". It was the biggest firestorm documented in North America, and created the world's largest smoke layer in the atmosphere.

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24/09/1948

The Honda Motor Company is founded.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd., commonly known as Honda, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered at the Toranomon Alcea Tower in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

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24/09/1946

Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have scheduled passenger and cargo services to more than 190 destinations and more than 60 countries worldwide including codeshares and joint ventures.

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The top-secret Clifford-Elsey Report on the Soviet Union is delivered to President Truman.

"The Sources of Soviet Conduct", commonly "X Article", is an article written by George F. Kennan and published under the pseudonym "X" in the July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. It introduced the term "containment" to widespread use and advocated the strategic use of that concept against the Soviet Union. It expanded on ideas expressed by Kennan in a confidential February 1946 telegram, formally identified by Kennan's State Department number, "511", but informally dubbed the "long telegram" for its size.

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24/09/1935

Earl and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights.

Earl Wesley Bascom was an American-Canadian painter, printmaker, sculptor, cowboy, rodeo performer, inventor, and Hollywood actor. Raised in Canada, he portrayed in works of fine art his own experiences of cowboying and rodeoing across the American and Canadian West. Bascom was awarded the Pioneer Award by the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2016 and inducted into several halls of fame including the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1984. Bascom was called the "Cowboy of Cowboy Artists," the "Dean of Rodeo Cowboy Sculpture" and the "Father of Modern Rodeo." He was a participant member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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24/09/1932

Mahatma Gandhi and B. R. Ambedkar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Indian provincial legislatures for the "Depressed Classes" (Untouchables).

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and to later inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā, first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.

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24/09/1929

Jimmy Doolittle performs the first flight without a window, proving that full instrument flying from take off to landing is possible.

James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his raid on Japan during World War II, known as the Doolittle Raid in his honor. He made early coast-to-coast flights and record-breaking speed flights, won many flying races, and helped develop and flight-test instrument flying. According to the FAA, he was the first pilot ever to perform a successful instrument flight.

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24/09/1911

His Majesty's Airship No. 1, Britain's first rigid airship, is wrecked by strong winds before her maiden flight at Barrow-in-Furness.

His Majesty's Airship No. 1 was designed and built by Vickers, Sons and Maxim at their works in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England, as an aerial scout airship for the Royal Navy. It was the first British rigid airship to be built, and was constructed in a direct attempt to compete with the German airship programme. Often referred to as "Mayfly", a nickname given to it by the lower deck, in public records it is designated 'HMA Hermione' because the naval contingent at Barrow were attached to HMS Hermione, a cruiser moored locally preparing to act as its tender.

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24/09/1906

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument.

Devils Tower is a laccolithic butte, composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises 1,267 feet (386 m) above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 ft (264 m) from summit to base. The summit is 5,112 ft (1,558 m) above sea level.

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Racial tensions exacerbated by rumors lead to the Atlanta Race Riot, further increasing racial segregation.

Violent attacks by armed mobs of White Americans against African Americans in Atlanta, Georgia, began after newspapers, on the evening of September 22, 1906, published several unsubstantiated and luridly detailed reports of the alleged rapes of four white local women by black men. The violence lasted through September 24, 1906. The events were reported by newspapers around the world, including the French Le Petit Journal which described the "lynchings in the USA" and the "massacre of Negroes in Atlanta," the Scottish Aberdeen Press & Journal under the headline "Race Riots in Georgia," and the London Evening Standard under the headlines "Anti-Negro Riots" and "Outrages in Georgia." The final death toll of the conflict is unknown and disputed, but officially at least 25 African Americans and two whites died. Unofficial reports ranged from 10 to 100 black Americans killed during the massacre. According to the Atlanta History Center, some black Americans were hanged from lampposts; others were shot, beaten or stabbed to death. They were pulled from street cars and attacked on the street; white mobs invaded black neighborhoods, destroying homes and businesses.

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24/09/1890

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy.

The 1890 Manifesto is a statement which officially advised against any future plural marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Issued by Church President Wilford Woodruff in September 1890, the Manifesto was a response to mounting anti-polygamy pressure from the United States Congress, which by 1890 had disincorporated the church, escheated its assets to the U.S. federal government, and imprisoned many prominent polygamist Mormons. Upon its issuance, the LDS Church in conference accepted Woodruff's Manifesto as "authoritative and binding."

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24/09/1877

The Battle of Shiroyama is a decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion.

The Battle of Shiroyama took place on 24 September 1877, in Kagoshima, Japan. It was the final battle of the Satsuma Rebellion, where the heavily outnumbered samurai under Saigō Takamori made their last stand against Imperial Japanese Army troops under the command of General Yamagata Aritomo and Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi. The battle culminated in the annihilation of Saigō and his army, marking the end of the Satsuma Rebellion. The Imperial Army's victory consolidated their power, and the Satsuma Rebellion was the last instance of internal mutiny seen in the Empire of Japan.

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24/09/1875

The 1864 play Heath Cobblers by Aleksis Kivi premieres in Oulu, Finland.

The Cobblers on the Heath is a play by Aleksis Kivi, considered one of the greatest Finnish writers. The play was originally written in 1864. However, the play's official premiere took place only three years after Kivi's death; it was performed for the first time in Oulu on 24 September 1875.

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24/09/1869

Black Friday (1869): Gold prices plummet after United States President Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market.

On September 24, 1869, a gold panic broke out in the United States, triggering a financial crisis. The panic, which became known as Black Friday, was the result of a conspiracy between two investors, Jay Gould, later joined by his partner James Fisk, and Abel Corbin, a small time speculator who had married Virginia (Jennie) Grant, the younger sister of President Ulysses S. Grant. They formed the Gold Ring to corner the gold market and force up the price of the metal on the New York Gold Exchange. The scandal took place during the Grant Presidency. The Secretary of the Treasury, George S. Boutwell, had a policy to sell Treasury gold at biweekly intervals for a sinking fund to pay off the national debt. Along with other, non-routine gold sales, this infusion of cash acted to stabilize the dollar. The economy had gone through tremendous upheaval during the Civil War 1861–1865 and was not yet fully restored.

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24/09/1853

Admiral Despointes formally takes possession of New Caledonia in the name of France.

Auguste Febvrier-Despointes was a French counter admiral. He served as the first commandant of New Caledonia from 24 September 1853 to 1 January 1854.

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24/09/1852

The first powered, passenger-carrying airship, the Giffard dirigible, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes.

The Giffard dirigible or Giffard airship was an airship built in France in 1852 by Henri Giffard, it was the first powered and steerable airship to fly. The craft featured an elongated hydrogen-filled envelope that tapered to a point at each end. From this was suspended a long beam with a triangular, sail-like rudder at its aft end, and beneath the beam a platform for the pilot and steam engine. Due to the highly flammable nature of the lifting gas, special precautions were taken to minimise the potential for the envelope to be ignited by the engine beneath it. The engine's exhaust was diverted downwards to a long pipe projecting below the platform, and the area surrounding the boiler's stoke hole was surrounded by wire gauze. On 24 September 1852, Giffard flew the airship from the hippodrome at Place de l'Etoile to Élancourt, covering the 27 km (17 mi) in around 3 hours, demonstrating maneuvering along the way. The engine, however, was not sufficiently powerful to allow Giffard to fly against the wind to make a return journey.

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24/09/1846

Mexican–American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.

The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, was an invasion of Mexico by the United States. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its territory because it refused to recognize the Treaties of Velasco, signed by President Antonio López de Santa Anna after he was captured by the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its Anglo-American citizens who had moved from the United States to Texas after 1822 wanted to be annexed by the United States.

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24/09/1841

The Sultanate of Brunei cedes Sarawak to James Brooke.

The Sultanate of Brunei or simply Brunei, also known as the Bruneian Empire, was a Malay sultanate centered around Brunei on the northern coast of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Brunei became a sovereign state around the 15th century, when it substantially expanded after the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese, extending throughout coastal areas of Borneo and the Philippines, before it declined in the 17th and 18th centuries. It became a British protectorate in the 19th century.

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24/09/1830

A revolutionary committee of notables forms the Provisional Government of Belgium.

The Provisional Government was the first iteration of the Belgian state, formed in the midst of the Belgian Revolution. After Dutch forces were expelled from Brussels on 27 September 1830, the recently created Revolutionary Committee transformed into the Provisional Government. The independence of Belgium as a state was officially declared on 4 October.

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24/09/1789

The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act, creating the office of the Attorney General and federal judiciary system and ordering the composition of the Supreme Court.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 is a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution prescribed that the "judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such inferior Courts" as Congress saw fit to establish. It made no provision for the composition or procedures of any of the courts, leaving this to Congress to decide.

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24/09/1674

Second Tantrik Coronation of Shivaji.

Shivaji I was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle dynasty. Shivaji inherited a fiefdom from his father who served as a retainer for the Sultanate of Bijapur, which later formed the genesis of the Maratha Kingdom. In 1674, he was formally crowned the Chhatrapati of his realm at Raigad Fort.

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24/09/1645

The Battle of Rowton Heath in England occurs, ending in a Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army commanded in person by King Charles I.

The Battle of Rowton Heath, better known as the Battle of Rowton Moor, occurred on 24 September 1645 during the English Civil War. The Parliamentarians, commanded by Sydnam Poyntz, inflicted a significant defeat on the Royalists under the personal command of King Charles I, inflicting heavy losses and preventing Charles from relieving the siege of Chester.

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24/09/1568

Spanish naval forces defeat an English fleet, under the command of John Hawkins, at the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa near Veracruz.

The Battle of San Juan de Ulúa was fought between English privateers and Spanish forces at San Juan de Ulúa. The English flotilla of six armed merchant ships under John Hawkins had been trading along the Spanish Main with the cooperation of local Spanish officials. However the central Spanish authorities considered this to be illegal smuggling that violated the Treaty of Tordesillas.

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24/09/0787

The Second Council of Nicaea begins at the Church of Holy Wisdom in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia.

Year 787 (DCCLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 787 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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