The first module of the International Space Station, named Zarya, is launched into orbit.
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What Happened in November?
Wars, expanding empires, and critical deaths. Explore significant events and milestones from November that have helped shape the world. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Dashun, a 9,000-ton ferry carrying more than 300 people and 40 crew members catches fire during a storm on November 24, 199 and capsizes in the Yellow Sea, off the northeast coast of China.
The ferry had departed from the port city of Yantai in Shandong province on its way to the northeastern port of Dalian for what is normally a seven hours journey. Nearly everyone on board perished, including the captain with only 22 survivors accounted for.
NASA Astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev become the first crew to reside onboard the station. Expedition 1 spent four months onboard completing tasks necessary to bring the ISS "to life" and began what is now more than 20 years of continuous human presence in space. More
The United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore leads to a disputed result, eventually resolved by the Supreme Court in favor of Bush.
American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300-600, N14053, crashes in Queens, New York, shortly after takeoff from Kennedy International Airport. All 260 people on board and five people on the ground died in the crash. More
The Turkish Grand National Assembly approves significant legal reforms making both spouses equal partners in family life and decision-making, thus making women equal to men before the law. The reforms repealed old codes that granted men supremacy in marriage and made the husband the head of the household. The new law went into effect in 2002.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ratified changes to the country's legal code that made women equal to men before the law and no longer subject to their husbands. More
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a Joint Statement on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Holodomor – a deliberate famine inflicted in 1932-’33 by the Soviet regime that resulted in the starvation of millions of Ukrainians-
The Joint Statement read: “The Holodomor – The Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine – took life from 7 to 10 million innocent people and became a national tragedy for the Ukrainian people.” The Holodomor has been defined as an act of genocide by many nations around the world. It is commemorated on the 4th Saturday in November. More
The United States launches Operation Iron Hammer during the Iraq War.
George W. Bush is reelected as President of the United States, defeating John Kerry.
A series of coordinated bombings in Amman, Jordan, target three hotels, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds. Al-Qaeda in Iraq quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
A private event at New York City’s famous Rainbow Room, with Kenny G, Aerosmith, 50 Cent and other stars, makes the headlines when it became known that it was a $10 million bat mitzvah for 13 year old Elizabeth Brooks, daughter of David H. Brooks, founder and CEO of DHB Industries a defense contractor and body-armor maker.
Two years after the lavish event, which received much coverage and social media criticism, Brooks was served with a 21-count federal indictment, for securities fraud, insider trading, tax evasion and obstruction of justice including raiding his company’s coffers for personal gain including the $10 million he used to pay for his daughter’s bat mitzvah. He was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 17 years in prison where he died in 2016. More
Barack Obama is elected President of the United States defeating Republican John McCain, thus becoming the first Black president of the United States,
A series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai by 10 men from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group begin on November 26, 2008, targeting multiple locations, including the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, the Oberoi Trident hotel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, and the Nariman House Jewish center, resulting in 164 deaths and over 300 injuries.
The attacks concluded after three days, with nine of the terrorists killed during the operation. The sole surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, was captured, put on trial, and later executed in November 2012.
Barack Obama is reelected as President of the United States, defeating Mitt Romney.
India launched its first interplanetary spacecraft, the Mars Orbiter Mission. India built Mangalyaan (“Mars craft” in English) to study the Red Planet and test key technologies required for exploring the inner solar system. The Mangalyaan spacecraft successfully entered Mars orbit on September 23, 2014. More
Super Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, struck the Philippines on November 8, 2013. it was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded with multiple landfalls, causing widespread destruction and at least 6,300 deaths and over 1,000 missing people.
A historic agreement is reached between Iran and six world powers, known as the Joint Plan of Action, to limit Iran's nuclear program.
One World Trade Center, also called "Freedom Tower", officially opens its doors on November 3rd, 2014. The building with a total height of 1,776 feet, in reference to the year the Declaration of Independence was approved by the United States Continental Congress.
One WTC, the tallest building in the United States was built on the site of the former Twin Towers, which were destroyed by terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. More
Kidfly182, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
The Rosetta spacecraft's Philae lander successfully lands on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.