October 11th

100th Mission of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Also known as the Space Transportation System or STS, the program was the first in the world to employ reusable spacecraft to take people into outer space. The first flight of the space shuttle fleet, which included Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour took place on April 12, 1981. The 100th flight was on space shuttle Discovery and the mission was designated STS-92. It was the 30th time Discovery had flown into space.

Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev open talks at a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Space shuttle Challenger astronaut, Kathryn Sullivan, became the first American woman to walk in space.

The First Episode of Saturday Night Live Airs. A popular sketch comedy show, SNL, as it is popularly known, was initially called NBC's Saturday Night, and it was created and produced by Lorne Michaels. The original cast members of the show, which usually opens with the slogan “Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!”, included Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Chevy Chase.

The first staffed Apollo mission, Apollo 7, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

Second Vatican Council (21st ecumenical) convened by Pope John XXIII.

Chinese civil war begins between Kuomintang government led by Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Zedong's Communist Party.

A letter from Albert Einstein was delivered to President Franklin D. Roosevelt concerning the possibility of atomic weapons.

English nurse Edith Cavell was executed by the Germans.

Wuchang Uprising. The Wuchang Uprising occurred in Wuchang, China, leading to the fall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. This day is celebrated as an important holiday in Taiwan.

The Boer War began in South Africa.

Battle of Camperdown (Kamperduin): British navy defeats Dutch fleet.

Polish patriot and American Revolutionary War commander Casimir Pulaski was killed in the battle of Savannah.

Earthquake kills 300,000 and destroys half of Calcutta India.

Burchardi flood - "the second Grote Mandrenke" kills about 15,000 in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.