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24 August

Anna Lee Fisher (born August 24, 1949) is an American chemist, emergency physician and former NASA astronaut who was the first mother to fly in space. Fisher became an astronaut candidate with NASA Astronaut Group 8 and joined the Astronaut Office for the development of the Canadarm and the testing of payload bay door contingency spacewalk procedures. She was assigned to the search and rescue helicopters for four Space Shuttle missions, then involved in the verification of flight software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and supported vehicle integration and payload testing at Kennedy Space Center. She flew into space on Space Shuttle Discovery for the STS-51-A mission and used the Canadarm to retrieve two satellites in incorrect orbits. Fisher then worked on procedures and training issues for the International Space Station (ISS), was a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) and the lead CAPCOM for ISS Expedition 33, and was involved in developing the display for the Orion spacecraft. (Full article...)

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In the news...

Kasia Niewiadoma

In cycling, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (pictured) wins the Tour de France Femmes.
Doctors strike and protests occur across India after the rape and murder of a female physician in Kolkata.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra becomes Prime Minister of Thailand after Srettha Thavisin is dismissed by the Constitutional Court.
The World Health Organization declares the mpox epidemic to be a global health emergency.

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Milkie Way

... that a performance by Milkie Way (pictured) at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards got its Twitch stream banned for three days?
... that women seeking abortions in Eswatini or in Lesotho may travel to neighbouring South Africa, where it is legal?
... that New Zealand mayor Georgina Beyer was the world's first openly transgender mayor?
... that during World War II an armed resistance group was based at the Norwegian Soy Flour Plant in Larvik?
... that Moain Sadeq led excavations at Tell es-Sakan in the Gaza Strip, the oldest-known ancient Egyptian fortification to be excavated?
... that Richard Swanson died while trying to dribble a soccer ball from Seattle to São Paulo?
... that Winston Churchill was often portrayed as a bulldog, but his personal pet dog during the Second World War was a poodle?
... that when Didier Berthod failed to make the first free ascent of Cobra Crack in 2005, he quit climbing and became a Franciscan monk?
... that voice actress Aoi Koga has an interest in manhole covers?

On this day...

August 24: Feast day of Saint Bartholomew (Western Christianity); Independence Day in Ukraine (1991)

Burning of Washington

1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: An Anglo-Dutch fleet engaged a French naval force at the Battle of Málaga in the Mediterranean Sea.
1814 – War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to various U.S. government buildings, including the White House (pictured).
1889 – The New Zealand Native football team, predominantly comprising Māori players, concluded their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby union history.
1914 – The Battle of Cer ended with the first Allied victory of World War I.
1954 – In the midst of a political crisis, Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas fatally shot himself in the Catete Palace in Rio de Janeiro.

William Wilberforce (b. 1759)
Antonio Stoppani (b. 1824)
Odette Abadi (b. 1914)
Cora Slocomb di Brazza (d. 1944)

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