1969
July 20
A first step on the Moon
Apollo 11’s lunar module landed on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on its surface.
A little history, every day
This day in history
Discover the stories behind a date. Then put your sense of history to the test.
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Across the years
Stories from this date
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Your one-minute challenge
Which happened first?
Move these three events into order, from earliest to latest. The years stay hidden until you check.
While you’re here
A few moments to explore
These sample moments come from different dates. Explore their source articles while we prepare your selected day.
1989
November 9
The Berlin Wall opens
Crowds crossed the border between East and West Berlin after travel restrictions were eased, marking a turning point in the Cold War.
1903
December 17
A powered flight at Kitty Hawk
The Wright brothers made the first sustained, controlled flights in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
About these stories and the challenge
Explore a month and day to find events recorded on that date across history. Stories come from saved Wikipedia snapshots, so browsing dates does not depend on a live Wikipedia connection. Each story links to its source so you can keep reading and check the context. Source notes identify the snapshot. The page presents a selection, rather than a complete history of the world.
Use the arrows beside each challenge event to arrange the three stories from earliest to latest. Check your order to reveal the years and a little more context. You can play again or explore another date.
Historical dates follow the source’s conventions. Some early dates and interpretations are debated. Text drawn from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license; image credits and licenses are linked with each image.
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