THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

22 August, 1851 – The first America’s Cup was held

Thought to be the oldest international sporting trophy to be still awarded today the cup’s name was changed from Hundred Guinea Cup to America’s Cup after the name of the yacht that won the first race.


23 August, 1966 – First photograph of Earth taken from the orbit of the Moon

NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 was the first American unmanned spacecraft to orbit the Moon. Its primary task was to scope out landing sites on the Moon for future spacecrafts.


24 August, 1949 – NATO was established

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), an intergovernmental military alliance, came into effect on this day. The Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949 in Washington DC.


25 August, 1991 – Michael Schumacher makes his Formula One debut

The German race car champion competed in his first Formula One race in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Franco champs. While he did not win that race, he would go on to win 91 Formula One Grand Prix races.


26 August, 1955 – First Tennis match telecasted in colour

The Davis Cup match between Australia and the US from the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York, was telecast on NBC.


27 August, 2003 – World’s biggest battery was plugged in

The battery, which takes up about 2,000 square metres of space and weighs about 1,300 tonnes set up to provide emergency electricity to the residents of Fairbanks in Alaska, for about seven minutes.


28 August, 1937 – Toyota Motor Corporation was formed

The car company was first founded in 1933 as a subsidiary of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. The division was headed by Kiichiro Toyoda, the son of the Toyota founder, Sakichi Toyoda.

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