Today is Tuesday, August 17, the 229th day of 2010. There are 136 days left in the year.
1877 ― Asaph Hall discovers Mars’ moon Phobos
1933 ― Lou Gehrig breaks record by playing in his 1,308th straight game
1938 ― Henry Armstrong won his third concurrent boxing championship
1939 ― ``Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NYC
1942 ― U.S. bombers staged first independent raid on Europe attack Rouen, France
1950 ― Indonesia gains independence from the Netherlands
1958 ― World's first Moon probe, U.S.'s Thor-Able, explodes at T+77 seconds
1962 ― Beatles replaces Pete Best with Ringo Starr
1970 ― Venera 7 launched by USSR for soft landing on Venus
1978 ― First manned balloon crossing of Atlantic Ocean (Eagle II)