• January 16 - The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107, which would be its final one. (* see Feb 1)
  

• February 1 - Space Shuttle Columbia disaster at the conclusion of the STS-107 mission. Columbia disintegrated during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts inside.
  

• February 4 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
  

• March 5 - Seventeen Israeli civilians were killed by a Hamas suicide bomber in an “Egged bus 37” bombing in Haifa, Isreal.
  

• May 3 - New Hampshire's iconic Old Man of the Mountain, a granite cliff profile of a human face, collapsed.
  

• July 1 - Tesla was founded by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning with a mission to popularize electric vehicles (EVs). Elon Musk joined as chairman and later became CEO, playing a pivotal role in the company's development.
  

• August 14 - Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada. The outage lasted between two hours and four days, depending on the location.
  

• August 22 - Famous Wedding: Film director Leni Riefenstahl (age 101) wed cinematographer Horst Kettner (age 59).
  

• August 28 - Electricity blackout cuts off power to 500,000 people living in southeast England. The outage brought 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
  

• October 7 - California held a gubernatorial recall election, Governor Gray Davis lost and was removed from office. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger subsequently becomes the governor.
  

• November 26 - Supersonic jet airplane the Concorde made its last ever flight returning to Bristol, England.

Notable Deaths -

Bob Hope (1903-2003) English-born American actor, comedian and entertainer, died at the age of 100!!!

Idi Amin (1925-2003) Ugandan dictator (1971-79) who killed an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 people in Uganda, died of kidney failure at an unknown age, probably between 75-80 years of age?

Johnny Cash (1932-2003) Country singer best known for "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire" and "A Boy Named Sue". He died at 71.

Notable Deaths in Sports -

* World Road Race Champion: Rik Van Steenbergen (1924-2003), Belgian cyclist and youngest winner of the Tour of Flanders, he won the World Championship RR 1949, 1956 and 1957 . He died at 78.

Wim van Est (1923-2003), Dutch road cyclist (3 x Tour de France stage winner), is famous for a crash off a cliff while in the Yellow Jersey. He died at 80.

Herb Brooks (1937-2003) American national team ice hockey coach (Olympic Gold Medal 1980), died in a car accident August 11. He was 66.

2002

2004

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