1956: Tom Hanks is born

1959: In Yosemite, a local outlaw gets so riled up by an irrepressible rabbit that he leaps into the stratosphere, accelerated by low body mass and downward-firing six-shooters

1975: Space Mountain opens in Orlando, FL

1979: Two Ohio men go missing after building a large-scale copy of one of those red plastic water rockets and pumping it 200 times

1995: Colorado sells its rockets to private citizens to pay for a new stadium

 

2001: 9-year-old Jenny Steven's parents confirm that her recently deceased dog is floating up in space watching over her

2002: Lance Bass fails in his bid to be the second homosexual in space

2004: Sir Richard Branson spends an entire week breaking in the space suit he plans to wear on his first trip to the moon