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Monumental Love
 June 17, 1631 - Mumtaz Mahal, the beloved wife of Shah Jahan, ruler of the Mughal Empire, died while giving birth to their 14th child.Grief-stricken, Shah Jahan would later spend more than 20 years constructing a mausoleum in her honor. That mausoleum still stands today as a symbol of their love and is known as the Taj Mahal. |
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Meeting His Waterloo
 June 18, 1815 - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in his final campaign at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon's abilities as a military and political leader were unmatched and during the height of his reign the French empire included most of the European continent. However, after suffering a defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 the emperor was banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba. After spending less than a year in exile Napoleon escaped the island and resumed his war campaign. In the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon faced a coalition army consisting of British, Russian, Austrian and Prussian forces. Historians cite bad weather and the battlefield terrain as the reasons for Napoleon's defeat. Following his surrender Napoleon was banished to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean where he lived until his death in 1821. |
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A Woman's Space
 June 18, 1983 - During NASA's seventh space shuttle mission Astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. (The first woman in space was Russian Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova on June 16, 1963.) Since that time 44 other American women have joined Ride in space travel, while the total number of Americans to enter space to date is 335. Since the first launch of Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981 there have been 134 space shuttle missions using five different spacecraft (Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour). The 135th and final flight is scheduled for July 8, 2011 using Space Shuttle Atlantis.
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