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TIL the first rocket to make it to space was the German V2 rocket MW 18014 launched on 20 June 1944 and reached an apogee of 176 kilometers or 109.6 miles. The rocket didn't have enough velocity to orbit causing it to return to Earth.

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D111p TIL the color of a placebo pill matters. In a classic study, researchers randomized patients to receive different color placebo pills for pain relief - they found that red placebo pills “worked” the best.
neRNY TIL the U.S. was on the verge of drafting women into the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in anticipation of the invasion of the Japanese mainland in late 1945 during World War II
nWlAr TIL about Raoul Whitfield, one of the earliest American hardboiled detective fiction writers. Close friends with Dashiell Hammett, he was briefly married to New York socialite Emily Davies Vanderbilt Thayer and created the character Jo Gar, a Spanish-Filipino detective in Manila.
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mxbMo TIL during the 2008 financial crisis, Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ made a $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, to keep it from collapsing. The emergency deal was confirmed on Columbus Day, when banks are closed, so the money couldn't be wired - so Mitsubishi UFJ wrote out a $9,000,000,000 cheque