Today in History: September 12, Voyager 1 leaves the solar system

Today in History

Today is Saturday, Sept. 12, the 255th day of 2026. There are 110 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 12, 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system.

Also on this date:

In 1857, the S.S. Central America (also known as the “Ship of Gold”) sank off the coast of South Carolina after sailing into a hurricane in one of the worst maritime disasters in American history; 425 people were killed and thousands of pounds of gold sank with the ship to the bottom of the ocean.

In 1940, the Lascaux cave paintings, estimated to be 17,000 years old, were discovered in southwestern France.

In 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched its Luna 2 space probe, which made a crash landing on the moon.

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

In 1977, South African Black student leader and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, 30, died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.

In 1994, truck driver Frank Eugene Corder piloted a stolen single-engine Cessna airplane into restricted airspace in Washington, D.C., and crashed it into the South Lawn of the White House. He died in the crash.

In 2003, in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly opened fire on vehicles carrying police, killing eight officers.

In 2008, a Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people.

In 2011, Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win his first U.S. Open championship.

In 2015, at least 89 people were killed at a restaurant in central India when a cooking gas cylinder exploded and triggered a second blast of mine detonators stored illegally nearby.

In 2025, dozens of people were killed in a village north of Haiti’s capital in the latest massacre carried out by powerful gangs in the troubled Caribbean country.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Linda Gray is 86. Singer Maria Muldaur is 83. Author Michael Ondaatje is 83. Actor Joe Pantoliano is 75. Photographer Nan Goldin is 73. Composer Hans Zimmer is 69. Actor Rachel Ward is 69. Actor-comedian Louis (loo-ee) C.K. is 59. Golfer Angel Cabrera is 57. Country singer Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland) is 52. Rapper 2 Chainz is 49. Singer Ruben Studdard is 48. Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming is 46. Singer-actor Jennifer Hudson is 45. Actor Alfie Allen is 40. Actor Emmy Rossum is 40. Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is 37. Country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini is 33. Actor Sydney Sweeney is 29. Singer Chris Grey is 25. Actor Jayla Walton is 22.