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launch of the Hubble Space Telescope during Space Shuttle Discovery mission.
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The World Wide Web is debuted as an internet service.
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Los Angeles riots result in over 50 deaths and $1 billion in damage, spurred by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King.
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Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane, kills 65 people and causes $26 billion in damage to Florida and other areas of the U.S. Gulf Coast.
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A violent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma kills 50 people and becomes the first to produce a tornado that causes $1 billion in damage.
May 3-6, 1999 -
September 11th terrorist attacks; 19 terrorists hijack four planes and crash them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring over 6,000. All civilian air traffic is suspended for 3 days, the first time an unplanned suspension had occurred in U.S.
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The United States launches the invasion of Afghanistan marking the start of Operation Enduring Freedom.
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Global financial crisis in September 2008 begins as the stock market crashes. In response, U.S. President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law to create a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets.
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The Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico explodes, sending millions of gallons of oil into the sea. The spill becomes the worst oil spill in American history.
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A gunman kills 26, including 20 children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
