- 1997 – The U.S.S. Constitution, which defended the United States during the War of 1812, set sail under its own power for the first time in 116 years.
- 1998 – Chinese gymnast Sang Lan, 17, was paralyzed after a fall while practicing for the women’s vault competition at the Goodwill Games in New York. Spinal surgery 4 days later failed to restore sensation below her upper chest.
- 2000 – NBC announced that they had found nearly all of Milton Berle’s kinescopes. The filmed recordings of Berle’s early TV shows had been the subject of a $30 million lawsuit filed by Berle the previous May.
- 2002 – WorldCom Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
- 2004 – White House officials were briefed on the September 11 commission’s final report. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited “deep institutional failings within our government.” The report was released to the public the next day.
- 2007 – The seventh and last book of the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” was released.
- 2011 – In Florida, Space Shuttle Atlantis landed successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS-135. It was the final flight of NASA’s space shuttle program.
- 2012 – Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Paloma Faith, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1981 – Anabelle Langlois, Canadian figure skater
- 1981 – Joaquín, Spanish footballer
- 1981 – Romeo Santos, American singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist[
- 1982 – Jason Cram, Australian swimmer
- 1982 – Mao Kobayashi, Japanese newscaster and actress (d. 2017)
- 1984 – Jurrick Juliana, Dutch footballer
- 1984 – Liam Ridgewell, English footballer
- 1985 – Mati Lember, Estonian footballer
- 1985. – Vanessa Lengies, Canadian actress, singer and dancer
- 1985 – Von Wafer, American basketball player
- 1986 – Anthony Annan, Ghanaian footballer
- 1986 – Rebecca Ferguson, American-English singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Jason Thompson, American basketball player
- 1987 – Bilel Mohsni, French footballer
- 1987 – Jesús Zavala, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – KB, American rapper
- 1988 – DeAndre Jordan, American basketball player[
- 1988 – Chris Mitchell, Scottish footballer (d. 2016)
- 1989 – Marco Fabián, Mexican footballer
- 1989 – Juno Temple, English actress
- 1990 – Chris Martin, English footballer
- 1990 – Jason Roy, English cricketer
- 1990 – Erislandy Savón, Cuban amateur heavyweight boxer
- 1990 – Franck Elemba, Congolese athlete
- 1991 – Sara Sampaio, Portuguese model
- 1992 – Rachael Flatt, American figure skater[
- 1996 – Mikael Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian footballer
- 1998 – Thomas Preining, Austrian racing driver