On This Day, Jan. 31: Apollo 14 blasts off for moon

UPI Staff
·3 min read
The Saturn V rocket lifts off carrying the Apollo 14 mission from Florida in January 31, 1971. File Photo courtesy of NASA
The Saturn V rocket lifts off carrying the Apollo 14 mission from Florida in January 31, 1971. File Photo courtesy of NASA

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1917, Germany announces it will wage unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships, including passenger carriers, in war-zone waters.

In 1929, the Soviet Union expelled communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky. He was assassinated in Mexico in August 1940.

In 1945, U.S. Army Pvt. Eddie Slovik, 24, was executed by firing squad for desertion. His was the first U.S. execution for desertion since the Civil War and the only one to take place during World War II. His remains, buried in an unmarked grave in France, were returned to the United States in 1987.

In 1953, nearly 2,000 people died when the North Sea flooded the Netherlands.

On January 31, 1917, Germany announces it will wage unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships, including passenger carriers, in war-zone waters. File Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
On January 31, 1917, Germany announces it will wage unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships, including passenger carriers, in war-zone waters. File Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
File Photo courtesy the U.S. Army
File Photo courtesy the U.S. Army

In 1958, Explorer 1, the first successful U.S. satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

On January 31, 1968, Viet Cong guerillas raided the U.S. Embassy in Saigon as part of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. File Photo courtesy the U.S. Army
On January 31, 1968, Viet Cong guerillas raided the U.S. Embassy in Saigon as part of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. File Photo courtesy the U.S. Army

In 1961, NASA launched a rocket carrying Ham the Chimp into space.

In 1968, Viet Cong guerillas raided the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, the Tan Son Nhut airbase and five hotels housing American officials as part of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War.

On January 31, 2001, a Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands convicted a Libyan man, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. UPI/Crown Office
On January 31, 2001, a Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands convicted a Libyan man, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. UPI/Crown Office

In 1971, Apollo 14, the third U.S. mission to land on the moon, blasted off using a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Alan Shepard and lunar module pilot Edgar Mitchell landed in the Fra Mauro formation in the lunar highlands, while command module pilot Stuart Roosa orbited the moon.

In 1982, the Israeli Cabinet agreed to a multinational peacekeeping force to act as a buffer between Israel and Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula.

In 1990, Moscow's first McDonald's restaurant opened.

In 1991, Iraqi forces crossed into Saudi Arabia engaging allied troops in a firefight before being driven back across the border. Eleven U.S. Marines died and two were injured in another battle. They were the first Americans to die in the Gulf War ground combat.

In 1996, a suicide bombing at Sri Lanka's main bank killed nearly 100 people and injured more than 1,000.

In 2001, a Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands convicted a Libyan man, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground. The convicted bomber died in 2012.

In 2006, Samuel Alito was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court by a 58-42 vote. He succeeded retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

File Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool
File Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool

In 2012, a U.S. congressional report accused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of bungling a sting operation called "Fast and Furious" in which guns were sold to illegal "straw buyers" in an effort to catch drug cartel leaders, but some of the weapons were used in crimes, including the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

In 2022, an investigative report given to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that parties held by him and attended by various officials in 2020 during the country's COVID-19 lockdown reflected a "serious failure" in government. The scandal played a role in Johnson's resignation that summer.

File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI
File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI