On This Day in History

The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (model pictured) struck the Moon, the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body.

South Vietnamese generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức staged a coup attempt after being demoted by junta leader Nguyễn Khánh.

Following a failed coup attempt, Mao Zedong's second-in-command Lin Biao died in a plane crash while attempting to flee China.

Super Mario Bros., one of the most influential and best-selling video games in history, was first released in Japan for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Hurricane Gilbert reached a minimum pressure of 888 mb (26.22 inHg) with sustained flight-level winds of 185 mph (295 km/h), making it the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time.

Nirvana released their third and final studio album, In Utero, which went on to sell more than 15 million copies.

A software bug caused a simulated pandemic in the online video game World of Warcraft, serving as a model for epidemiologists to understand how human interaction influences disease outbreaks.

Five bomb blasts took place in Delhi, India, killing at least 20 people as part of a series of attacks perpetrated by the Indian Mujahideen.