Sputnik 1 "Satellite-1", (Elementary Satellite-1) was the first artificialsatellite to be put into geocentric orbit. The satellite helped to identify the density of high atmospheric layers by its orbit change and provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Because the satellite's body was filled with pressurized nitrogen, Sputnik 1 also provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection as losses in internal pressure due to meteoroid penetration of the outer surface would have been evident in the temperature data. Sputnik 1 pioneered Soviet Sputnik program and ignited the so-called Space Race within the Cold War.

    Sputnik-1 was set in motion during the International Geophysical Year from the 5th Tyuratam range in Kazakh SSR (now Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers (18,000 mi) per hour and emitted radio signals at around 20.005 and 40.002 MHz[1] which were received by scientists and ham radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on October 26, 1957. Sputnik 1 burned as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after about 60 million km (37 million miles), made while orbiting.

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The United Arab Republic, UAR, was the state formed by the union of the republics of Egypt and Syria in 1958. It existed until Syria's secession in 1961, although Egypt continued to be known as the UAR until 1971.

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Vanguard 1 or Vanguard I was the fourth artificial satellite launched, and the oldest still orbiting Earth, though there is no longer any communication with it. It was designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle as a part of Project Vanguard, and the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It also was used to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis.

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In British politics, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has been at the forefront of the peace movement in the United Kingdom and claims to be Europe's largest single-issue peace campaign. The organisation is led by an elected "chair", currently Kate Hudson.

   As well as campaigning against military actions that may result in the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, they are also in favour of nuclear disarmament by all countries and tighter international regulation through treaties such as the NPT. They are also opposed to any new nuclear power stations being built in the United Kingdom. Their famous and long-standing annual march is held every Easter weekend from Trafalgar Square, London to the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston, taking the whole four days to complete.

   Although many of its members, including religious groups that make up a significant minority of the active membership, are strict pacifists, the organisation itself is not.

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The Tomb of the Unknowns (also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, although it has never been officially named) is a monument in Arlington National Cemetery, United States dedicated to the American soldiers who have died without their remains being identified. The 'Unknown Soldier' is a recipient of the Medal of Honor and the Victoria Cross.

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The 1958 FIFA World Cup, the sixth staging of the World Cup, was hosted by Sweden from June 8 to June 29. Sweden was chosen as hosts by FIFA in June 1950. It was won by Brazil, who beat Sweden 5-2 in the final for their first title. The World Cup marked the debut on the world stage of 17-year-old Pelé, who would grow to be considered by many the greatest footballer of all time.

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Explorer 4 was a US satellite launched on July 26. It was instrumented by Dr. James van Allen's group. The Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency had initially planned two satellites for the purposes of studying the Van Allen radiation belts and the effects of nuclear explosions upon these belts (and the Earth's magnetosphere in general), however Explorer IV was the only such satellite launched.

    Explorer 4 was a cylindrically shaped satellite instrumented to make the first detailed measurements of charged particles (protons and electrons) trapped in the terrestrial radiation belts. An unexpected tumble motion of the satellite made the interpretation of the detector data very difficult. The low-power transmitter and the plastic scintillator detector failed September 3. The two Geiger-Mueller tubes and the caesium iodide crystal detectors continued to operate normally until September 19. The high-power transmitter ceased sending signals on October 5. It is believed that exhaustion of the power batteries caused these failures. The spacecraft decayed from orbit after 454 days on October 23, 1959.

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Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29), commonly known as MJ as well as the "King of Pop", is an American musician, entertainer, and global icon whose successful career and controversial personal life have been a part of pop culture for almost 40 years.

    Michael Jackson is widely regarded as one of the greatest entertainers and most popular recording artists in history, displaying complicated physical techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, that have redefined mainstream dance and entertainment. His achievements in the music industry have included a revolutionary transformation of music videos, establishing high-profile album releases and sales as a new trend for record companies to generate profits, dominating pop music during the 1980s, and becoming the first black entertainer to amass a strong following on MTV while leading the relatively young channel out of obscurity. His distinctive style, moves, and vocals have inspired, influenced, and spawned a whole generation of hip hop, pop, and R&B artists. He has been symbolically named the "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time" by Guinness World Records.

    Jackson began his musical career at the age of seven as the lead singer of The Jackson 5. He released his first solo recording, Got to Be There, in 1971, while remaining a member of the group. In his solo career, Jackson recorded and co-produced the best-selling album of all time, Thriller, which has worldwide sales exceeding 104 million. After Thriller, Jackson continued to release internationally chart-topping albums like Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory (1995), and Invincible (2001), his latest album of fully original material. Michael Jackson has received thirteen Grammy Awards and charted thirteen #1 singles in the United States, more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era. In November 2006, the World Music Awards announced that Michael Jackson had sold over 750 million units worldwide, making Jackson one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

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In twelve dreadful hours, Typhoon Ida swept clear up the northern half of Honshu, Japan's biggest and richest island. The torrential rains caused widespread floods and some 1,900 landslides, left half a million homeless. In Tokyo the Emperor's 300 cherished carp were flushed out of the Imperial Palace moat into surrounding streets. (Tokyo cops, splashing in hot pursuit, saved most of the carp as well as the Imperial swans.) On the "Japanese Riviera"—the mountainous Izu Peninsula southwest of Tokyo —two tiny coastal villages were washed out to sea and a dozen more engulfed by the swollen waters of the Kano River. Early this week, with the full extent of the damage still unknown, Japanese police estimated the nation's casualties at 337 dead, 984 missing.

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Pope John XXIII (Latin: Ioannes PP. XXIII; Italian: Giovanni XXIII), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28. He called the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) but did not live to see it to completion, dying on June 3, 1963, two months after the completion of his final encyclical, Pacem in Terris. He was beatified on September 3, 2000, along with Pope Pius IX, the first popes since Pope St. Pius X to receive this honour. His feast day is October 11 in the Catholic Church, the day that Vatican II’s first session opened. He is also commemorated on June 3 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and on June 4 by the Anglican Church of Canada.

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Have Gun — Will Travel was a popular American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was the #4 show in the Nielsen ratings in its first year, and #3 for the next three years.[citation needed] It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted on November 23.

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The Nutcracker Op. 71, is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts, three tableaux, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed in 1891–92, and based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (German: Der Nußknacker und der Mausekönig), a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1816). Alexandre Dumas, père's adaptation of the story was set to music by Tchaikovsky (after a libretto possibly written by Marius Petipa and commissioned by the Imperial Theatres' administrator Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891).

    A selection of eight of the more popular numbers from the ballet was made by the composer before the ballet's premiere, forming The Nutcracker Suite, intended for concert performance. The suite became instantly popular; the complete ballet did not achieve its great popularity until around the mid-1960's. Some indication of how much the Nutcracker Suite once eclipsed the fame of the ballet may be found in Deems Taylor's commentary in the road show version of Disney's 1940 animated film Fantasia, which features the suite as one of the animated segments. Taylor observes matter-of-factly, "[The ballet] isn't performed anymore", a statement which certainly does not hold true today, and , indeed, has not been true since the mid-1950's, when George Balanchine's production achieved great popularity in New York.

    Among other things, the score of Nutcracker is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic poem The Voyevoda (premiered 1891).^ Although well-known in Nutcracker as the featured solo instrument in the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from Act II, it is employed elsewhere in the same act.

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