Images: Independence house explosion
2012: The European Space Agency conducts the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The four-stage rocket was designed to give Europe a vehicle for scientific satellite missions. The first rocket carried nine scientific satellites into space.
Bruno Hauptmann is convicted in the Lindbergh baby case, France tests a nuclear weapon, and the last "Peanuts" comic strip runs, all on this day.
You might think that a company called Isis Pharmaceuticals would be itching to change its name in order to avoid confusion with the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).