World Almanac
Today is the 51st day of 2022 and the 62nd day of win- ter.
TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1792, President George Washington signed into law the Postal Ser- vice Act, establishing the U.S. Post Office Department.
In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first Ameri- can to orbit the Earth, making three orbits aboard the Mer- cury program’s Friendship 7 spacecraft.
In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the core module of the Mir space station.
In 2003, a pyrotechnics display during a Great White concert set fire to the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 peo- ple.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: An- sel Adams (1902-1984), pho- tographer; Robert Altman (1925-2006), filmmaker; Rich- ard Matheson (1926-2013), author/screenwriter; Sidney Poitier (1927-2022), actor; Nancy Wilson (1937-2018), singer/actress; Patty Hearst (1954- ), actress/socialite; Charles Barkley (1963- ), bas- ketball player/broadcaster; Cindy Crawford (1966- ), fash-
ion model; Kurt Cobain (1967- 1994), musician; Lili Taylor (1967- ), actress; Trevor Noah (1984- ), comedian/TV host; Miles Teller (1987- ), actor; Rihanna (1988- ), singer-song- writer.
TODAY’S FACT: More NASA astronauts (31 men and wom- en, as of 2022) have come from New York than from any other state.
TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1998, 15-year-old Tara Lipinski be- came the youngest person in history to win a singles figure skating gold medal at the Win- ter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.
TODAY’S QUOTE: “Comfort can be dangerous. Comfort provides a floor but also a ceil- ing.” — Trevor Noah, “Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood”
TODAY’S NUMBER: 10,506 — duration (in hours) of the longest single human space- flight, by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov from January 1994 to March 1995. Polyakov spent 437 days aboard the Mir space station.
TODAY’S MOON: Between full moon (Feb. 16) and last quarter moon (Feb. 23).
