History

National

50-Year-Old Memories Of Apollo 11

6:05pm July 20, 2019

People across the country are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. A number of people on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall remember where they were during the historic moment.

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National

ProPublica Report: Black Americans Lose Big Under Longtime Property Provision

5:23pm July 20, 2019

NPR's Sarah McCammon speaks to ProPublica reporter Lizzie Presser about heirs property, a form of land ownership that has cost black Americans billions of dollars in land loss.

Michael Collins, center, poses with Neil Armstrong, left, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. for a group portrait a few weeks before they took off to the moon in the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

National

On Apollo 11 Anniversary, A Former Crew Member Reflects On The Lunar Trip

12:51pm July 20, 2019

Humans first landed on the moon 50 years ago on July 20. Former astronaut Michael Collins was a member of the historic mission.

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John Tanton, Ophthalmologist And Driver Of Modern Anti-Immigrant Movement, Dies At 85

4:09pm July 19, 2019

Michigan ophthalmologist John Tanton was the founder and early driver behind the modern anti-immigrant movement. He died on Tuesday at 85.

Science

Key Moments To The Lead-Up Of Apollo 11 Moon Landing

10:02am July 19, 2019

NPR's Noel King talks to historian Andrew Chaikin about the things that went wrong during the Apollo 11 moon landing. He wrote: Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts.

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In less than 100 years, thousands upon thousands of diamondback terrapins had succumbed to the American appetite, depleting the species.

Environment

Our Taste For Turtle Soup Nearly Wiped Out Terrapins. Then Prohibition Saved Them

1:56pm July 18, 2019

by Shoshi Parks

By the turn of the 20th century, America's love affair with diamondback terrapin soup — a subsistence food turned gourmet fare — had left the turtle's population teetering. Booze ban to the rescue.

American aerospace engineer John Houbolt as he stands at a chalkboard in July 1962 showing his lunar orbit rendezvous plan for landing astronauts on the moon.

Science

Meet John Houbolt: He Figured Out How To Go To The Moon, But Few Were Listening

8:00am July 18, 2019

by Scott Neuman

In the early 1960s, NASA was considering three different ideas for landing a man on the lunar surface. Houbolt's plan ultimately won out despite concerns within NASA that it was too risky.

In the summer of 1927, Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston drove together from Alabama to New York. Just outside Savannah, Ga., they gave a ride to a young person running away from a chain gang. An essay Hughes wrote about that encounter has recently r

Books
Arts

In Lost Essay, Langston Hughes Recounts Meeting A Young Chain Gang Runaway

6:02pm July 17, 2019

by Ari Shapiro

The work, previously published only in Russian, was discovered by Professor Steven Hoelscher. The encounter occurred in 1927, when Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston went on a road trip through the South.

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'Escalante's Dream' Retraces The Steps Of The 'Spanish Lewis And Clark'

10:45am July 17, 2019

by Carson Vaughan

After a cancer diagnosis, author and noted mountaineer David Roberts sets out on the trail of Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, remaining dutiful to the route some 240 years later.

Adolf Eichmann, standing in a glass booth and flanked by guards, in the Jerusalem courtroom during his trial in 1961 for war crimes committed during World War II.

World News

The Doctor Who Helped Israeli Spies Catch Eichmann But Refused Recognition For It

7:01pm July 16, 2019

by Daniel Estrin

Yonah Elian played a key part in spiriting Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann out of Argentina to stand trial in Israel. His family couldn't understand why he never spoke about the heroic role he served.