1958
Scientists at Lincoln Laboratory at MIT bounced radar signals off the planet Venus, calling it the first measurement of interplanetary distance.
Further reading
1990
The spacecraft Galileo flies by Venus on its way to Jupiter. Galileo used the flyby of Venus along with two flybys of Earth as a “gravitational slingshot” in order to reach Jupiter with the least amount of fuel.
Further reading
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/pr1289.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_slingshot
1996
World chess champion Garry Kasparov loses a game to the computer Deep Blue during a match set up using standard championship rules. This was the first time a computer defeated a world chess champion using these rules.
Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_versus_Garry_Kasparov
2004
While talking about their forthcoming game, Game Neverending, Ludicorp unveiled a side project called Flickr at the O’Reilly Emerging Tech Conference in San Diego. It was a service that melded chat rooms with real-time photo sharing.
Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flickr
2009
The communication satellite Iridium 33 and defunct Russian satellite Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both. This an unprecedented major collision of satellites in Earth orbit.
Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision