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 Today's highlight in history:
Fifty years ago, on Jan. 31, 1958, the United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit, Explorer I.
On this date:
In 1606, Guy Fawkes, convicted of treason for his part in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed.
In 1797, composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria.
In 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee was named General-in-Chief of all the Confederate armies.
In 1917, during World War I, Germany served notice it was beginning a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
In 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt devalued the dollar in relation to gold.
In 1944, during World War II, U.S. forces began a successful invasion of Kwajalein Atoll and other parts of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
In 1945, Private Eddie Slovik, 24, became the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he was shot by an American firing squad in France.
In 1971, astronauts Alan Shepard Jr., Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon.
In 2000, an Alaska Airlines jet plummeted into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 people aboard.
In 2006, Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, at age 78.
Ten years ago: Astronaut David Wolf returned to Earth aboard space shuttle Endeavour after four months on the Russian space station Mir.
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 Five years ago: President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair met at the White House; Bush said he would welcome a second U.N. resolution on Iraq but only if it led to the prompt disarming of Saddam Hussein. Pushing for a new resolution, Blair called confronting Iraq "a test of the international community."
One year ago: President Bush, visiting Wall Street, delivered his "State of the Economy" speech in which he took aim at lavish salaries and bonuses for corporate executives. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden formally launched his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Nine blinking electronic devices planted around Boston threw a scare into the city in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins died in Austin, Texas, at age 62.
Today's birthdays: Actress Carol Channing is 87. Actress Jean Simmons is 79. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks is 77. Composer Philip Glass is 71. Actor Stuart Margolin is 68. Former U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., is 67. Blues singer-musician Charlie Musselwhite is 64. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan is 61. Singer-musician KC (KC and the Sunshine Band) is 57. Rock singer Johnny Rotten is 52. Actress Kelly Lynch is 49. Actor Anthony LaPaglia is 49. Singer-musician Lloyd Cole is 47. Actor John Dye is 45. Rock musician Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) is 44. Rock musician Al Jaworski (Jesus Jones) is 42. Actress Minnie Driver is 38. Actress Portia de Rossi is 35. Actress Kerry Washington is 31. Singer Justin Timberlake is 27.
Thought for today: "Mystics always hope that science will some day overtake them."
-- Booth Tarkington, American author-dramatist (1869-1946)
[Associated Press]
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