2003 NASA Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard
1991 President FW de Klerk opens parliament with a speech promising the demolition of the remaining pillars of apartheid, the Land Act, the Group Areas Act and the Registration of Population Act are to be scrapped. He also unveils a manifesto for a New South Africa
1884 The first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary (A-Ant) is published
