Flashbackfriday - - 1976

Flashback Friday - - 1976

News Headlines and History

          I was expecting there to be a lot more stories about the American Bicentennial and it's celebrations listed, however I only saw one date in the wikipedia 1976, listing. (I use the wiki listing as a memory jogger). Rather surprising to me, the other thing that was surprising was the number of space stories and headlines. 1976 was a year of looking to the future it seems, more than to a remembrance of the past, and this is somewhat how I remember the year. Yes we had the big 200^th birthday party, it was fun.

          We looked at it like we do our own birthdays, remember the past and look forward toward the future. We had a president that was not elected, 1975 seemed to have been a drain on the American populace, the people were looking for hope and a new frontier, looking toward the future, with a hope of not repeating the past.

April 1 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

          On 1 April 1976 Apple was founded, making the company 42 years old as of the 1 April 2018 - here's a historical breakdown of the company. Here is the link to that story, I updated the first line there to reflect 2018, not 2017 when the story was written. Apple has come a long long way in 42 years. A group of people looking toward the future.

^{By UnknownUnknown author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons}

April 13 - The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration. The only mention of the Bicentennial in the wiki list.

          This was surprisingly a very interesting read on the history of the two dollar bill. From wikipedia - United States two-dollar bill

^{By Bureau of Engraving and Printing:
U.S. Department of the Treasury (own scanned) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons}

July 20 - The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.

The first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, Viking 1 was part of a two-part mission to investigate the Red Planet and search for signs of life. Viking 1 consisted of both an orbiter and a lander designed to take high-resolution images, and study the Martian surface and atmosphere

          According to wikipedia "Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to attain soft landing on Mars on 2 December 1971. It failed shortly after landing." It may have failed shortly after landing, but it did land successfully. Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Soviet Mars program

For more on the history of the Viking Missions MISSION TO MARS Viking 1 JPL web page

July 31 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.

^{By Viking 1, NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons}

August 7 – Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.

September 3 – The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface.

^{Source:https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA00568}

September 17 – The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar.

^{By NASA (Great Images in NASA Description) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons}

          While it may have never went into space itself, the Enterprise recaptured our thirst for space and knowledge. Here is a link to a nice story on the shuttle from space.com. Enterprise: The Test Shuttle

November 2 – U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.

^{By JimmyCarterPortrait.jpg: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Naval Photographic Centerderivative work: wadester16 (JimmyCarterPortrait.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons}

          People were ready for a change, but there was still a lot of lingering doubt as to what had really transpired with Nixon. it was a very close Presidential race, 50.1% popular for Carter 48% for Ford. Electoral votes for Carter - 297, and for Ford - 240. One small footnote to the election in the electoral vote one "faithless" voted for Reagan.

Music

April 10 – Frampton Comes Alive!, the multi-platinum selling live album by English rock musician Peter Frampton hits #1 in the Billboard 200 and remains there for 10 weeks, becoming the best-selling album of the year.