› added 10 years ago

415

TIL that John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, had a wife with a severe speech impediment. And he protected her from the intense media coverage that followed his accomplishment and throughout their long life together.

Read more cnn.com

via reddit.com

9YXG6 TIL that koalas are not bears but marsupials
E1V7d TIL Canadian air traffic controllers ordered pizza delivery in a show of solidarity for at least 35 US air traffic control units working without pay during the 2018–2019 US government shutdown.
X0MVD TIL that Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg collaborated in founding the Breakthrough Starshot program, which aims to develop a proof-of-concept fleet of interstellar probes capable of reaching Alpha Centauri.
eolE TIL that In 1965, a four-year-old nearly drowned at a beach, but was rescued by a woman named Alice Blaise. 9 years later, that boy saved a man at the same beach. That man was Alice’s husband.
e0K7g TIL that in 1967, the Nigerian Civil War ground to a halt for two days because both sides wanted to watch soccer player Pele in an exhibition match.