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Liftoff of Apollo 16

Apollo 16 (April 16–27, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. The mission was crewed by John Young, Commander; Charles Duke, Lunar Module Pilot; and Ken Mattingly, Command Module Pilot. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 16, 1972 (pictured), Apollo 16 experienced a number of minor glitches en route to the Moon. These culminated with a problem with the spaceship's main engine that resulted in a six-hour delay in the Moon landing. Young and Duke explored the Descartes Highlands, a site thought volcanic, although this proved to be not so. Mattingly orbited the Moon in the command and service module, taking photos and operating scientific instruments. During the return trip to Earth, Mattingly performed a one-hour spacewalk to retrieve several film cassettes from the exterior of the service module. Apollo 16 returned safely to Earth on April 27, 1972. (Full article...)

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Walther von Klingen in the Codex Manesse

... that Minnesang poet Walther von Klingen is depicted jousting (pictured) in the Codex Manesse manuscript?
... that in Le Tombeau de Couperin, George Balanchine's ballet to Ravel's orchestral suite, the dancers are divided into two groups, dancing separately?
... that Guy Alfred Wyon helped discover a remedy for TNT poisoning in British shell factories in World War I?
... that none of the original core Ice Age cast returned for The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild?
... that the Colonial Office refused to appoint Cyrus Prudhomme David to the magistracy, considering it wrong "as a matter of policy" to appoint a second Black man to a legal post in Trinidad and Tobago?
... that Walter Cronkite was one of 40 finalists in NASA's Journalist in Space Project?
... that the Selangor State Executive Council degazetted most of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve, despite the legislative assembly having unanimously voted to preserve it?
... that brewer Sophie de Ronde is allergic to most beer?

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On this day

April 16: First day of Passover (Judaism, 2022)

Harriet Quimby

1520 – Citizens of Toledo, Castile, opposed to the rule of the foreign-born Charles I, revolted when the royal government attempted to unseat radical city councilors.
1862 – Slavery in Washington, D.C., ended when the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act became law.
1912 – American pilot Harriet Quimby (pictured) became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
1963 – In response to an open letter written by white clergymen, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail in defence of the strategy of nonviolent resistance against racism.
2001 – India and Bangladesh began a six-day conflict over their disputed border, which ended in a stalemate.

Tabinshwehti (b. 1516)
Farran Zerbe (b. 1871)
Johnny Peirson (d. 2021)

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Today's featured picture

Richèl Hogenkamp (born 16 April 1992) is a professional tennis player from the Netherlands. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 94, which she reached on 24 July 2017. On the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, she has won 16 singles and 14 doubles titles. This photograph depicts Hogenkamp competing at the 2015 Madrid Open.

Photograph credit: Carlos Delgado

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