page_title: May 1970
section_title: May 17, 1970 (Sunday)
hierarchical_section_title: May 1970 / May 17, 1970 (Sunday)
caption_attribution_description: Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Партрэт Тура Хэердала English: Portrait of Thor Heyerdahl, as a grown-up explorer. Español: Retrato de Thor Heyerdahl Magyar: Thor Heyerdahl, norvég tenger biológus, aki ősi módszerekkel épített hajókat, és azzal tett utakat a tengeren. Русский: Портрет Тура Хейердала
context_page_description: The following events occurred in May 1970:
context_section_description: Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of seven men and a monkey departed from the harbor at Safi, Morocco on Heyerdahl's 8-ton boat made of papyrus, the Ra II, in an attempt to prove that the ancient Egyptians could have crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than 5,000 years before the voyage of Christopher Columbus. In 1947, Heyerdahl had become famous for the successful Kon-Tiki expedition, sailing a raft of balsa logs across the Pacific Ocean, but in 1969, his first Ra expedition failed the papyrus boat became water-logged less than two months later. Heyerdahl's second voyage, of about 4,000 miles (6,400 km) reached Barbados on July 12, 1970.
  In the Dominican Republic presidential election, Joaquin Balaguer was re-elected, polling more votes than his four challengers combined, including Vice President Francisco Lora and Elías Wessin y Wessin, who led the 1963 coup that had ousted President Juan Bosch.
  Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves became the ninth Major League Baseball player to have 3,000 hits, reaching the milestone in his first at bat against pitcher Wayne Simpson of the Cincinnati Reds. Later in the game at Cincinnati, Aaron hit his 570th home run, but the Reds won the game, 7 to 6.
  Born: 
  Jordan Knight, American-Canadian vocalist, lead singer for New Kids on the Block; in Worcester, Massachusetts
  Fadwa Souleimane, Syrian actress and anti-government activist during the Syrian Civil War; in Aleppo (d. of cancer, 2017)
  Died: Heinz Hartmann, 75, Austrian-born American psychoanalyst
caption: Thor Heyerdahl
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