Today in History Today is Friday, July 24, the 205th day of 2026. There are 160 days left in the year. Today in History: On July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts — two of whom were the first humans to set foot on the moon — splashed down safely in the Pacific.
Also on this date: In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate her throne to her 1-year-old son James. In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah. In 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.
In 1915, the SS Eastland, a passenger ship carrying more than 2,500 people, rolled onto its side while docked at the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River. An estimated 844 people died in the disaster. In 1959, during a visit to Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in his famous “Kitchen Debate” with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor. In 1975, an Apollo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific, completing a mission which included the first docking with a Soyuz capsule from the Soviet Union. In 2010, a stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans left 21 people dead and more than 500 injured at the famed Love Parade festival in Duisburg, Germany.
In 2013, a high-speed train crash outside Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain killed 79 people. In 2025, an Antonov An-24 turboprop passenger plane operated by Angara Airlines crashed near Tynda in Russia’s Far East, killing all 48 passengers and crew. Today’s Birthdays: Actor Dan Hedaya is 86.
Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone is 63. Retired MLB All-Star Barry Bonds is 62. Actor-singer Kristin Chenoweth is 58.
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