During the Artemis II mission, the Orion made its closest approach to the far side of the Moon and reached its greatest distance from Earth .
6 April 120
A Saturday in history
Weekday
Saturday
Season
Spring (N. Hemisphere)
Century
2nd century
Records
446
2026
2018A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos collided with a semi-truck, killing 16 and injuring 13.
2012The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad unilaterally declared the region of Azawad independent from Mali.
2011Mexican drug war: Authorities discovered 59 bodies in clandestine mass graves linked to earlier bus hijackings in San Fernando, Tamaulipas.
- 2010
Naxalite–Maoist insurgency: Insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) ambushed a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Dantewada district, India, killing 76 officers.
2009An earthquake measuring 6.3 Mw struck near L'Aquila in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, killing 308 people and leaving more than 66,000 homeless.
2009Mass protests began across Moldova against the results of the parliamentary election.
2005Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was elected by the National Assembly as the first non-Arab president of Iraq.
2004Lithuanian president Rolandas Paksas became the first European head of state to be removed from office by impeachment.
1994The aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down in Kigali; the event became the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide.
1974ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest representing Sweden with the song "Waterloo".
1970Four California Highway Patrol officers were killed in a shootout following a traffic stop in Newhall, north of Los Angeles.
1945Second World War: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville Island concluded with a decisive victory for the Australian Army's 7th Brigade against the Imperial Japanese Army's 6th Division.
1941World War II: The Luftwaffe began Operation Retribution, bombing the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade in retaliation for a coup d'état that overthrew the government that had signed the Tripartite Pact.
1941World War II: German forces invaded Greece and Yugoslavia.
1926Varney Air Lines made its first commercial flight (flight covers pictured), later forming the basis of United Airlines.
1830Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and others formally organized the Church of Christ, starting the Latter Day Saint movement.
1812Peninsular War: After a three-week siege, the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the Earl of Wellington, captured Badajoz, Spain, and forced the surrender of the French garrison.
1809Napoleonic Wars: British forces captured the French frigate Niémen in the Bay of Biscay.
1808John Jacob Astor founded the American Fur Company, the profits from which made him the first multi-millionaire in the United States.
1776American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy unsuccessfully attempted to capture HMS Glasgow near Block Island.
1712A group of 23 slaves in New York City revolted, setting fire to a building, but were soon recaptured.
1652Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck landed at Table Bay in southern Africa, establishing a settlement that later became known as Cape Town.
Photo archive
24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.
What was life like?
Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.
Sources & fact check
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