Every day of the calendar year has events that make the date historic, but April 12 is a particularly amazing day in so many ways in history!
April 12, 1961, saw the first man in space orbit, Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union, exactly 50 years ago today!
April 12, 1981, saw the first US Space Shuttle flight, and the program is soon ending, 30 years after its inception!
April 12, 1954, saw the recording of the first Rock and Roll record, with Rock Around The Clock being recorded by Bill Haley and the Comets. Fifty seven years later, the genre of Rock and Roll still prospers, and there is a great museum giving testimony to it in Cleveland, Ohio, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, which the author and his two sons will be visiting in August on vacation!
Even with the advances into space and into Rock and Roll music as a significant form of culture, there are two other events even more significant and discussed in the next two blog entries following this one, so look ahead and see the two path breaking events that have transformed this nation!