First Spacecraft to Enter Interstellar Space. NASA’s Voyager 1, which was launched on September 5, 1977, left the heliosphere — the part of space that is influenced by our Sun — on this day. In February 1990, the spacecraft took the first overview picture of the solar system. It is the most distant man-made object in space.

Michael Schumacher Makes His Formula One Debut. The German race car champion competed in his first Formula One race in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps. While he did not win that race, he would go on to win 91 Formula One Grand Prix races.

Liberation of Paris. The battle to liberate Paris, which had been under Nazi control since 1940, began on August 19, 1944, and ended on this day. The battle was fought between Nazi soldiers and members of the French resistance group, who were helped by the American Armed Forces headed by General George Patton. The Germans provided little resistance and did not carry out Hitler’s orders of razing Paris to the ground. The Nazi Commander of Paris, General Dietrich Von Choltitz surrendered to the French and American troops. On August 26, General Charles de Gaulle entered Paris and headed a liberation march on the Champs d’Elysees before declaring the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

First Installment of the Great Moon Hoax is Published. The New York-based newspaper The Sun published a series of articles, starting on this day, that detailed the discovery of civilization on the Moon.

Uruguay Declares Independence from the Brazilian Empire. The Empire consisted of present-day Brazil and Uruguay and had declared its independence from Portugal in 1822. Despite the declaration of independence, Uruguay's independence was not recognized by the Empire until August 1928, when the Treaty of Montevideo was signed.