August 6, 1926 – First woman to swim across the English Channel

Gertrude Ederle, an American Olympic swimmer swam across the English Channel a body of water between England and France, in 14 hours and 34 minutes.

August 7, 1974 – Daredevil walks a high wire between twin towers of the World Trade Centre

French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, who was 24 years old at the time, walked eight times across a high wire between the two towers in 45 minutes. The high wire was 1,350 feet from the ground.

August 8, 1908 – Wright Brothers show off their flying machine for the first time

The human air flight pioneers displayed their flying machine and its capabilities at a racecourse at Le Mans, France, five years after they made their first successful flight in 1903.

August 9, 1945 – An atomic bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki

Three days after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the city of Nagasaki was destroyed by a 21 kiloton atomic bomb. Around 80,000 people were estimated killed.

August 10, 1990 – Magellan space probe is inserted in orbit around Venus

The first spacecraft to be launched by a space shuttle, Magellan was a robotic space probe that spent eight months gathering data about the surface of the planet also known as Earth's twin.

August 11, 1999 – Last total solar eclipse of the millennium

The eclipse was visible from most parts of North America. Because of its path through heavily populated parts of the world, it is thought to be one of the most viewed eclipses in recorded history.

August 12, 1877 – Mars' moon Deimos is discovered by astronomer Asaph Hall

The discovery took place at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Deimos is one of two natural satellites of Mars. The other moon, Phobos was also discovered by Hall.