10-19-18
I was expecting there to be a lot more stories about the American Bicentennial and it's celebrations listed, however I only saw one date in the wikipedia 1976, listing. (I use the wiki listing as a memory jogger). Rather surprising to me, the other thing that was surprising was the number of space stories and headlines. 1976 was a year of looking to the future it seems, more than to a remembrance of the past, and this is somewhat how I remember the year. Yes we had the big 200th birthday party, it was fun.
We looked at it like we do our own birthdays, remember the past and look forward toward the future. We had a president that was not elected, 1975 seemed to have been a drain on the American populace, the people were looking for hope and a new frontier, looking toward the future, with a hope of not repeating the past.
April 1 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
On 1 April 1976 Apple was founded, making the company 42 years old as of the 1 April 2018 - here's a historical breakdown of the company. Here is the link to that story, I updated the first line there to reflect 2018, not 2017 when the story was written. Apple has come a long long way in 42 years. A group of people looking toward the future.
April 13 - The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration. The only mention of the Bicentennial in the wiki list.
This was surprisingly a very interesting read on the history of the two dollar bill. From wikipedia - United States two-dollar bill
July 20 - The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
The first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, Viking 1 was part of a two-part mission to investigate the Red Planet and search for signs of life. Viking 1 consisted of both an orbiter and a lander designed to take high-resolution images, and study the Martian surface and atmosphere
According to wikipedia "Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to attain soft landing on Mars on 2 December 1971. It failed shortly after landing." It may have failed shortly after landing, but it did land successfully. Mars 3 was an unmanned space probe of the Soviet Mars program
For more on the history of the Viking Missions MISSION TO MARS Viking 1 JPL web page
July 31 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
August 7 – Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
September 3 – The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface.
September 17 – The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar.
While it may have never went into space itself, the Enterprise recaptured our thirst for space and knowledge. Here is a link to a nice story on the shuttle from space.com. Enterprise: The Test Shuttle
November 2 – U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.
People were ready for a change, but there was still a lot of lingering doubt as to what had really transpired with Nixon. it was a very close Presidential race, 50.1% popular for Carter 48% for Ford. Electoral votes for Carter - 297, and for Ford - 240. One small footnote to the election in the electoral vote one "faithless" voted for Reagan.
April 10 – Frampton Comes Alive!, the multi-platinum selling live album by English rock musician Peter Frampton hits #1 in the Billboard 200 and remains there for 10 weeks, becoming the best-selling album of the year.
I think I will end it there, warning that is a ten minute long music video. There was a lot to look at and read for me, I went through the wiki list a couple of times cherry picking what appealed to me, I had to par it down a little bit, The 1976 winter and summer Olympics were a big hit that year. But for me the space exploration stories were what got my imagination along with the computer stories of 75 and this year. They still hold it to this day. I did find the two dollar bill story really good, he looks so bummed and pissed off sort of in that portrait of him, (Thomas Jefferson), I wonder if it was intentional that they used that particular image.
