This page no longer updated from 31 October 2001. Future cosmonaut Jean-Loup Jacques Marie Chretien born in La Rochelle, France. 1940 - Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister.
Soviet Union begins development of the atomic bomb.
Cape Canaveral . Control System malfunction followed by Power Plant malfunction at approximately 80 sec. Missile test failure. Missed aimpoint by 240,000 m. USSR sells R-12 missiles to China.