The Andrews Sisters record "Roll Out the Barrel" 1939

The Andrews Sisters recorded the Beer Barrel Polka or Roll Out the Barrel, May 3, 1939.  It was composed by a Czech musician Jaromir Vejvoda in 1927 and was covered by Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Billie Holiday.  

Their version reached #4 on the US Singles Chart.

Celebrating Asian-American Heritage Month: Daniel Inouye, first Japanese-American to serve in the US Senate

Daniel Inouye, born September 7, 1924 in Hawaii, was the second Asian American senator in the US Senate, after Hiram Fong (Chinese-American) from Hawaii.  He was the first Japanese-American to serve in the US House of Representative.

He served in WWII as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment and received the Medal of Honor.  He was elected to Hawaii's territorial House of Representatives in 1953 and to the territorial Senate in 1957.  When Hawaii attained statehood in 1959, Inouye was elected as its first member of the US House of Representatives.  He was elected to serve in the US Senate in 1962.  

He served continuously until his death in December 2012. 

SpaceX Crew-1 Dragon returned to Earth today!

Crew-1 Dragon (L-R): Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, Soichi Noguchi

The crew of SpaceX Dragon Resilience splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico this morning just before 3am May 2, 2021.  The returning astronauts are Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi.  Launched November 15, 2020, they spent 168 days in space, all but one of those days on the International Space Station.  They completed 2688 orbits of Earth and traveled 71,242,199 statute miles.   

Celebrating Asian-American Heritage Month: Charles Pedersen, first Korean to win a Nobel Prize

Charles Pedersen, born October 3, 1904 in Busan, Korea, is the first Korean to be awarded a Nobel Prize.  He shared the prize for chemistry with Donald J. Cram and Jean-Marie Lehn in 1987.  

While a chemist at DuPont, he developed a method for synthesizing crown ethers.

He passed away in October 1989.

Happy birthday, astronaut Victor Glover!

Victor Glover, born April 30, 1976 in Pomona, California, is currently aboard the International Space Station.  He went into space aboard SpaceX Crew-1, launched in November 2020.  He has participated in Expedition 61 and is now involved with Expedition 62.  He is scheduled to return to Earth Sunday, May 2, 2021. 

Happy birthday, Godzilla actor Akira Takarada!

Actor Akira Takarada, born April 29, 1934 in Chongjin, North Korea, is one of the most popular and well-recognized actors in the Godzilla series.  He appeared in the original Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 1956.  Since then he's appeared in Mothra vs Godzilla, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, Godzilla vs Mothra: The Battle for Earth, Godzilla: Final Wars and the American reboot Godzilla in 2014. 

Soyuz TM-32 launched 2001

Soyuz TM-32 launch crew (L-R): Dennis Tito, Talgat Musabayev, Yuri Baturin

Soyuz TM-32 mission patch

Soyuz TM-32, launched April 28, 2001, carried the crew of ISS EP-1 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin.  They were joined by space tourist Dennis Tito, an entrepreneur who funded his own trip into space. 

Soyuz TM-32 returned to Earth in October 2001 with Viktor Afansayev, Claudie Haignere and Konstantin Kozeyev.