Date with History: September 5

Voyager 1 launches, On the Road hits shelves, and the Munich Olympics turn to tragedy.

One paperback for one calendar date: what happened on September 5, and who was born on it.

What happened on September 5

1972: The Munich Olympics hostage crisis begins

Before dawn on September 5, 1972, eight members of the Black September organization scaled a fence into the Israeli team's quarters at the Munich Olympic Village, killing coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano and taking nine hostages. For nearly twenty hours the standoff played out on live television before a botched rescue at Furstenfeldbruck airbase killed all nine remaining hostages, five of the attackers, and a German police officer. ABC's Jim McKay gave the world the confirmation: "They're all gone."

1977: Voyager 1 launches carrying the Golden Record

Voyager 1 lifted off from Cape Canaveral on September 5, 1977, bound for Jupiter and Saturn, and never stopped. Bolted to its side was the Golden Record: 116 images, the sounds of surf and thunder, music from Bach to Chuck Berry, and greetings in fifty-five languages, assembled by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan. It crossed into interstellar space in 2012 and is now the most distant human-made object in existence.

Famous birthdays on September 5

1946 — Freddie Mercury
Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, Queen's four-octave frontman and rock's most fearless showman.

1638 — Louis XIV
The Sun King, crowned at four and reigning 72 years, who built Versailles as a gilded political cage.

Nearby dates

September 4 · September 6 · All September dates

Part of Date with History, a 366-book collection with one book for every date of the year. 5″×8″ paperback, cream paper.

Historical selections are editorially researched. This is a date-specific book, not a personalized or custom-made product.