1968 Apollo 8 Launch

NASA's Apollo 8 launched from Cape Canaveral on America's first manned lunar mission, with a crew of three astronauts.  The space mission sent back pictures of the moon, as well as of Earth, from space.  Apollo 8  returned home and landed safely on Dec. 27, 1968.

1988 Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing

A Pan Am plane en route from London to New York's JFK airport exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in midair.  A bomb had been planted. All passengers and crew members onboard were killed, along with 11 people on the ground.  Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was the only person convicted in the bombing. Al-Megrahi  served only eight years of his life sentence.  He had  terminal prostate cancer, and was released from prison and allowed to return to Libya in 2009.

1996 Newt Gingrich Admits to Ethics Violations

Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich admitted to giving false information to ethics committee.  For two years, the Republican speaker denied any wrongdoing.

Famous Birthdays

1926 Joe Paterno

1935 Phil Donahue

1937 Jane Fonda

1948 Samuel L. Jackson

1957 Ray Romano

1965 Andy Dick

1966 Kiefer Sutherland

1978 Mike Vitar

1981 Frankie Abernathy

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