On This Day, Nov. 26: NASA launches Curiosity rover to look for life on Mars

1 of 4 | A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory from Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on November 26, 2011. File Photo by Joe Marino-Bill Cantrell/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 26 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1789, U.S. President George Washington declared Nov. 26, 1789, to be Thanksgiving Day. It was the first U.S. holiday by presidential proclamation.

In 1842, the University of Notre Dame was founded in South Bend, Ind.

In 1922, in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, British archaeologists Howard Carter and George Carnarvon became the first humans to enter King Tutankhamen’s treasure-laden tomb in more than 3,000 years.

UPI File Photo

In 1941, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull submitted U.S. proposals to Japanese peace envoys in Washington.

In 1948, the first commercial Polaroid camera was sold. The inventor of the device and founder of Polaroid Corp., Edwin H. Land, obtained some 533 patents before his death in 1991.

In 1956, bandleader Tommy Dorsey died at age 51. His records sold more than 110 million copies.

In 1965, France launched a satellite into space, becoming the world’s third space power after the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1984, the United States and Iraq restored diplomatic relations, ending a 17-year break.

In 2001, a three-day Afghanistan prison revolt claimed the life of a CIA operative, Johnny Michael Spann, 32, a former U.S. Marine captain. His was the first U.S. combat death in the war.

File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI

In 2005, a 67-year-old textile tycoon in India, Vijaypat Singhania, set the world record for the highest flight in a hot-air balloon, reaching 69,852 feet over Mumbai.

In 2008, militants launched a series of coordinated attacks on Mumbai landmarks and commercial hubs popular with foreign tourists. More than 170 people died and about 300 were injured in the three-day siege.

In 2011, the United States launched an Atlas V rocket to look for life on Mars. Aboard was the rover Curiosity, which would explore the planet, searching for signs of life.

In 2020, a Turkish court handed down life sentences to hundreds of people charged in a failed 2016 coup attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.