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65 years ago today, NASA launched a Saturn rocket with fake upper stages
October 27, 1961: NASA launched its first Saturn rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Only the bottom stage was real. The two stages above it were dummies, built to test whether the whole stack would hold together. It climbed about 85 miles, then splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. That test went almost perfectly. Later Saturn rockets carried astronauts to the Moon.
Also today: Same date, 1980: the ARPANET crashed and stayed down for hours. It was the early network that grew into the internet. One faulty computer kept sending bad updates, and the others passed them along. Engineers fixed it by telling every machine to ignore that computer.
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On August 1, 1981, MTV signed on. What was the first music video it played?
A) Rapture
B) Video Killed the Radio Star
C) Hot Stuff
D) Africa
Answer’s at the very bottom. Try it first. 👀
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A Corner-Store Worker Who Had Never Driven a Bus Stopped One Full of Students
On Monday, October 19, a school bus rolled slowly past a corner store in St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota. The doors were open, and the driver appeared to be having a seizure. Ebro Ahmed, 27, who works at his family’s store, was outside on a break, kicking a soccer ball.
Ahmed ran to the bus and jumped aboard in under 15 seconds, according to the store’s video. He had never driven one. After shifting into reverse by mistake, he found neutral and pulled the parking brake. The bus stopped, and police arrived within minutes.
The bus carried middle school students. Police reported no injuries. Paramedics took the driver for care, and by Wednesday the driver was resting at home. On Thursday, a philanthropist named Sheletta Brundidge surprised Ahmed with a $1,000 check. He plans to put it toward a window-tinting business, MPR News reported.
Keep smiling,
The Distraction Desk
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