Today’s highlights

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

On this date

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.

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

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

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.”

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.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Linda Gray is 84. Singer Maria Muldaur is 82. Author Michael Ondaatje is 81. Actor Joe Pantoliano is 73. Composer Hans Zimmer is 67. Actor Rachel Ward is 67. TV host-commentator Greg Gutfeld is 60. Actor-comedian Louis C.K. is 57. Country singer Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland) is 50. Singer Ruben Studdard is 46. Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming is 44. Singer-actor Jennifer Hudson is 43.