Births on April 20

Donald Pettit

Born on April 20, 1955

Donald Pettit, American engineer and astronaut

Donald Roy Pettit (born April 20, 1955) is an American chemical engineer and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of two long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station, one Space Shuttle mission and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2021, at age 66, he is NASA's oldest active astronaut.

References

Donald Pettit

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Events on 1955

7 Jan

Metropolitan Opera
Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.
13 Feb

Dead Sea Scrolls
Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
18 Feb

Nevada Test Site
Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
14 May

Warsaw Pact
Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
23 Oct

State of Vietnam referendum, 1955
Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm defeats former emperor Bảo Đại in a referendum and founds the Republic of Vietnam.

Births on April 20

Donald Pettit

Born on April 20, 1955

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1955

Metropolitan Opera

Dead Sea Scrolls

Nevada Test Site

Warsaw Pact

State of Vietnam referendum, 1955