This Day In History : November 7

1996 United States

NASA launches the Mars Global Surveyor

The Mars Global Surveyor was launched by NASA on November 7, 1996. It was a spacecraft designed to orbit Mars and study the planet from space, focusing on its climate, atmosphere, and geology. The mission provided valuable data and images of Mars until contact was lost in November 2006.

Also on This Day in History November 7

Discover what happened on November 7 with HISTORY's summaries of major events, anniversaries,
famous births and notable deaths.

Births on This Day, November 7
  • 1867 Marie Curie

    Polish chemist and physicists, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1952 David Petraeus

    American military officer, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

  • 1888 C. V. Raman

    Indian physicist (Nobel Prize 1930 for light scattering)

  • 1928 Norton David Zinder

    American biologist (genetic transduction)

  • 1878 Lise Meitner

    Austrian-Swedish physicist (discovered the nuclear fission of uranium)

Deaths on This Day, November 7
  • 1913 Alfred Russel Wallace

    British naturalist, explorer and co-discoverer of the theory of evolution through natural selection

  • 1633 Cornelis Drebbel

    Dutch inventor who built the first navigable submarine

  • 1996 Jaja Wachuku

    Nigerian Lawyer and First Foreign Affairs Minister

  • 2022 Evelyn de Rothschild

    English banker and multi-millionaire (De Beers)

  • 2023 Frank Borman

    American USAF colonel, NASA astronaut (Gemini 7, Apollo 8), and CEO of Eastern Air Lines (1975-86)

1665

The London Gazette first published and is the oldest surviving journal

The London Gazette, one of the oldest surviving journals, was first published in 1665. It is still in print today and serves as one of the official journals of record for the British government, publishing legal notices, statutory instruments, and official appointments.
1869

First inter-city cycle race

Paris–Rouen was the first cycle race covering a distance between two cities. It was held between the cities of Paris and Rouen on 7 November 1869. The winner of the inaugural race was an Englishman living in Paris, James Moore, who rode the 123 kilometres dividing both cities in 10 hours and 40 minutes, including time spent walking his bicycle up the steeper hills.
1992

First robot-assisted hip replacement

On November 7, 1992, a surgical team lead by Dr. Bargar at Sutter General Hospital, Sacramento, California, used Robodoc to perform the first robot-assisted human hip replacement. The operation was the first of ten at the hospital approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine the safety and feasibility of the device. The success cleared the way for nationwide clinical trials which began in 1993.
1967

Surveyor 6 launched for soft landing on Moon

Surveyor 6 was launched on November 7, 1967, with the goal of performing a soft landing on the Moon. It successfully achieved this objective on November 10, 1967. The mission carried a television camera that transmitted around 30,000 images back to Earth during its 37-day operation. Additionally, it included an alpha-scattering surface analyzer to study the chemical composition of the lunar regolith.
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