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The events of July 20 · Read the full edition → · More from July 20 →
20151776 Club

Flags rise over Havana; U.S. and Cuba reopen embassies after 54 years

Secret talks brokered by Pope Francis quietly ended a Cold War freeze that outlasted ten American presidents.

For 54 years, the United States and Cuba had no embassies in each other's capitals. The freeze dated to the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. On July 20, 2015, that ended: American diplomats returned to Havana and Cuban diplomats opened an embassy in Washington, following a framework President Obama and President Raúl Castro announced the previous December. The deal came after secret talks hosted in Canada and Vatican City, brokered in part by Pope Francis, and included prisoner releases on both sides. The embargo itself stayed in place…

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More from July 20
1969

Eagle touches down with about 50 seconds of fuel left; Armstrong radios "the Eagle has landed"

Alarms blared during descent as Mission Control watched the fuel gauge fall, and a spacecraft named for a bird settled into lunar dust.
1960

From out of the deep to target, perfect: Polaris fires from a submerged submarine

A second missile follows within two hours, both striking 1,100 miles downrange off Florida.
1864

Hood's first attack as commander breaks against Thomas's line north of Atlanta

Two days into the job, the new Confederate commander throws two corps at Sherman's advancing army and cannot make them give ground.
19761776 Club
The landing falls seven years to the day after Apollo 11 put boots on the Moon.
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2001

Atlantis lifts off with Quest airlock; station finally has its own door to open space

Astronauts Gernhardt and Reilly will bolt the 6.5-ton steel-and-aluminum chamber into place across three spacewalks, giving the station a hatch usable by both American and Russian suits.
1995

Discovery lifts off at last; woodpecker damage and a mid-count signal flag had held it back

Six hours after launch, the crew deploys TDRS-G, the last first-generation tracking satellite, raised toward geostationary orbit by the Inertial Upper Stage.
2013

Cassini turns its camera toward Earth; Saturn's shadow makes it possible

Imaging leader Carolyn Porco positioned the spacecraft to catch the sun eclipsed by Saturn, putting Earth in the frame 1.44 billion kilometers away, and millions look up and wave.
1997

Old Ironsides sails again; Cronkite takes the helm off Marblehead

The 1797 frigate moves under her own canvas for the first time in 116 years, on sails paid for through a national campaign of citizen and student donations.
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