MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2018: American politician John McCain—who developed a reputation as a political maverick while serving in Congress for some 35 years and during his failed bid for the presidency in 2008—died at age 81. [Test your knowledge of American politics.]

2012: U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong—who was the first person to set foot on the Moon, an event he described as “one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”—died at age 82. [ Take our quiz about famous astronauts and cosmonauts.]

2009: American politician Ted Kennedy, who was a prominent figure in the Democratic Party and the last surviving brother of President John F. Kennedy, died at age 77. [ Read our list of 10 Democrats who made history.]

1919: George C. Wallace—a four-time governor of Alabama (1962–66, 1970–78, 1982–86) who led the American South in a fight, eventually abandoned, against federal orders to end racial segregation —was born in Clio, Alabama. [ Take our Republican or Democrat quiz.]

1916: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed the “Organic Act,” which established the National Park Service. [Test your knowledge of national parks and landmarks.]

1835: New York's The Sun began running a series of news accounts that falsely claimed British astronomer John Herschel had observed all sorts of life on the Moon, including winged human creatures about four feet tall; it became known as the Great Moon Hoax, though The Sun never retracted the stories. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about the Moon.]