Unix Timestamp: 1088726400
Friday, July 2. 2004, 12:00:00 AM UTC

NASA and Lockheed Martin unveil the first space-bound Orion spacecraft in Cape Canaveral. //www.floridatoday.com/article/20120702/SPACE/120702005/orion-delta-iv-4-spacecraft-kennedy-space-center?nclick_check=1 (Florida Today)

Russian cargo ship Progress fails to dock with the International Space Station. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10495309.stm (BBC) //www.france24.com/en/20100702-russian-cargo-ship-fails-dock-with-iss-mission-control (France24) //www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/02/russian-spaceship-control-near-space-station/?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_caign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Flatest+%28Text+-+Latest+Headlines%29 (Fox News)

Colombia

Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces.

Venus and Saturn are in conjunction, separation 46 arcsecs.

In Pakistan, all parliament members from the Jamaat-e-Islami political movement resign over fighting between the army and terrorists in Waziristan and General Musharraf's support for the United States in an effort to force Musharraf to step down. //www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0607024853182413.htm (IRNA)

One year on from the Live 8 concerts, U2 frontman Bono announces that world leaders are not making good on their promises to Africa. According to Bono in a recent CNN interview, not enough is being done to make trade fair. //edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/06/29/bono.africa.reut/index.html (CNN)

The European Parliament rejects the Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in its second reading in the codecision procedure.

Violent anti-G8 demonstrations occur in Gleneagles, Scotland.

NASA's Copper bullet from the Deep Impact spacecraft hits Comet Tempel 1, creating a crater for scientific studies.

Live 8, a set of 10 simultaneous concerts, takes place throughout the world, raising interest in the Make Poverty History caign.

The Italy-USA Foundation is established in Rome, Italy.

The International Olympic Committee awards the 2012 Summer Olympics to London.

At the International Olympic Committee session in Prague, Vancouver, British Columbia is declared the host city for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.

SARS is declared to be contained by WHO.

The International Olympic Committee announced in Prague, Czech Republic, that Vancouver, British Columbia will host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

A double suicide bombing at a Moscow rock concert kills the attackers and 15 other people.

World's first self-contained artificial heart implanted in Robert Tools.

The world's first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools.

Benjamin Nathaniel Smith begins a 3-day killing spree targeting racial and ethnic minorities in Illinois and Indiana.

Lyle and Erik Menendez are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar, 27, is shot dead in Medellín. His murder is commonly attributed as retaliation for the own goal Escobar scored in the 1994 FIFA World Cup against the United States.

An integrist mob sets fire to the hotel where "The Satanic Verses" translator Aziz Nesin resides in Sivas, Turkey, killing 37.

Ten-Day War: Fighting breaks out when the Yugoslav People's Army attacks secessionists in Slovenia.

Ten-Day War: Fighting breaks out when the Yugoslav People's Army attacks secessionists in Slovenia.

President of South AfricaP. W. Botha meets the imprisoned Nelson Mandela face to face for the first time.

Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece resigns a new government is formed under Tzannis Tzannetakis.

The television show "Seinfeld" premieres.

The Wonderland Gang is brutally murdered in a massacre involving Eddie Nash.

North Vietnam and South Vietnam unite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The United States Congress passes the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) mandating Special Education federally.

Following Pakistan's surrender to India in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, both nations sign the historic Simla Agreement, agreeing to settle their disputes bilaterally.

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, abolishing racial segregation in the United States.

Prince Albert of Belgium marries Italian DonnaPaola Ruffo di Calabria.

A lab experiment at Sylvania Electric Products results in an explosion.

WWII: Empire of Japan calls up 1 million men for military service.

WWII: British-owned off northwest Ireland with the loss of around 865 lives.

Theodore Roosevelt's head is dedicated at Mount Rushmore.

The Neuengamme concentration c becomes autonomous.

Lou Gehrig gives his last public speech, following a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In it, he says, Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

The 1st World Science Fiction Convention opens in New York City.

Polish–Soviet War: Red Army continues offensive into Poland.

Syrian National Congress in Damascus. Arab nationalist announce independence.

Battle of Erzincan: Russian forces defeat troops of the Ottoman Empire in Armenia.

The German Kaiser announces that he will not attend the Archduke's funeral.

The first zeppelin flight is carried out over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.

The Sherman Antitrust Act and Sherman Silver Purchase Act become United States law.

James Garfield, President of the United States, is shot by Charles Julius Guiteau. The wound becomes infected killing Garfield on September 19.

Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

President Abraham Lincoln signs the Morrill Land Grant Act into law, creating a system of land grant colleges to teach agricultural and mechanical sciences across the United States.

Ivan Kasatkin lands on Hakodate and introduces the Eastern Orthodox Church into Japan.

Vladivostok is founded in Russia.

The Kansas territorial legislature convenes in Pawnee and begins passing proslavery laws.

Andre-Michel Guerry presents his "Essay on moral statistics of France", to the French Academy of Sciences, a significant step in the founding of empirical social science.

Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829: Russian Field-Marshal Hans Karl von Diebitsch launches the Transbalkan offensive, which brings the Russian army within 68 km of Istanbul.

American Revolution: The final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence is written. The Continental Congress passes the Lee Resolution.

Thomas Herring is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

Following the capture of Kandahar, Ahmad Shah Durrani is chosen by a Loya jirga as first leader of the Durrani Empire, predecessor of Afghanistan.

War of the Austrian Succession ndash Battle of Lauffeld: France defeats the combined armies of Hanover, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Major John Talcott and his troops begin sweeping Connecticut and Rhode Island, capturing large numbers of Native Americans from Algonquian tribes and exporting them out of the Thirteen Colonies as slaves.

Fight at Alford, Aberdeenshire.

English Civil War ndash Battle of Marston Moor: The Parliamentarians crush the Royalists, ending Charles I's hold on the north of England.

Battle of Nieuwpoort in the Eighty Years\' War (Dutch War of Independence) between the Dutch and the Spanish

Battle of Nieuwpoort in the Eighty Years' War (Dutch War of Independence) between the Dutch and the Spanish

Martin Luther, then 22, vows to become a monk in a moment of terror, due to a near lightning strike during a thunderstorm, near the village of Stotternheim.

Battle of Göllheim: Albert I of Habsburg defeats and kills Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.

Kings Otakar II of Bohemia and Stephen V of Hungary sign the first Peace of Pressburg, settling territorial claims following the failed invasion of Hungary by Otakar II.

Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I begins the Great Mosque of Damascus.

Emperor Zhongzong of Tang had the remains of his mother and recently deceased ruling empress Wu Zetian, her son Li Xian, her grandson Li Chongrun, and granddaughter Li Xianhui all interred in at the same tomb complex as his father and Wu Zetian's husband Emperor Gaozong (d. 683) outside Chang'an known as the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang.

15 February ndash The restored Byzantine emperor Justinian II presides over the public humiliation of his predecessors Leontius and Tiberius III and their chief associates in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, after which they are executed. Patriarch Callinicus I is also deposed, blinded and exiled, and succeeded by Cyrus.

In the early morning, Li Shimin, the future Emperor Tang Taizong of China, eliminates two of his brothers, Li Yuanji and the crown prince Li Jiancheng, in a coup d'état at the Xuanwu Gate in Chang'an.

In the early morning, Li Shimin, the future Emperor Tang Taizong of China, eliminates two of his brothers, Li Yuanji and the crown prince Li Jiancheng, in a coup d\'état at the Xuanwu Gate in Chang'an.

Valentinian III, age 18, rules as emperor over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence until her death in 450.

The Donatist schism occurs in the African church.

Pope Miltiades succeeds Pope Eusebius as the 32nd pope.