This week in 1895 – The Berliner Gramophone Company, the first company to produce disc “gramophone records” was founded in Philadelphia.
1950 – Television: CBS’s mechanical color system was the first to be licensed for broadcast by the Federal Communications Commission.
1968 – The U.S. launched Apollo 7. Described by commander Walter Schirra as a “magnificent flying machine,” “Apollo 7” traveled some 4 and a half million miles in orbit around the Earth to become the first manned flight in NASA’s lunar-landing program. The mission also featured the first live TV transmission from a spacecraft in orbit.
1984 – Space-shuttle Challenger astronaut Dr. Kathy Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform an EVA (extra-vehicular activity), or walk in space.
And this week in 2010 – Instagram, a mainstream photo-sharing application, was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. Just a year and a half later, it would be acquired by Facebook for $1 Billion.