On this day — May 14

New York.

the country's first Mars rover.

killing 15 people.

A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.

the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.

is launched.

Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.

A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.