Saturday, February 20, 2021 Today is the 51st day of 2021 and the 62nd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1792, President George Washington signed into law the Postal Service Act, establishing the U.S. Post Office Department.

In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, making three orbits aboard the Mercury program's Friendship 7 spacecraft.

In 1986, the Soviet Union launched the core module of the Mir space station.

In 2003, a pyrotechnics display during a Great White concert set fire to the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ansel Adams (1902-1984), photographer; Robert Altman (1925-2006), filmmaker; Richard Matheson (1926-2013), author/screenwriter; Sidney Poitier (1927- ), actor; Nancy Wilson (1937-2018), singer/ actress; Patty Hearst (1954- ), actress/socialite; Charles Barkley (1963- ), basketball player/ broadcaster; Cindy Crawford (1966- ), fashion model; Kurt Cobain (1967-1994), musician; Lili Taylor (1967- ), actress; Trevor Noah (1984- ), comedian/ TV host; Miles Teller (1987- ), actor; Rihanna (1988- ), singersongwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: More NASA astronauts (31 men and women, as of 2021) have come from New York than from any other state.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1998, 15-year-old Tara Lipinski became the youngest person in history to win a singles figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I do not use words like liberal or conservative. You can ask me a question and I will give you an answer. Those are words rich people on television use to divide and conquer." -- Charles Barkley

TODAY'S NUMBER: 10,506 -- duration (in hours) of the longest single human spaceflight, by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov from January 1994 to March 1995. Polyakov spent 437 days aboard the Mir space station.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter (Feb. 19) and full moon (Feb. 27).

Sunday, February 21, 2021 Today is the 52nd day of 2021 and the 63rd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1842, John Greenough received the first U.S. patent for a sewing machine.

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published "The Communist Manifesto."

In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

In 1972, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China while in office.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Leo Delibes (1836-1891), composer; Anais Nin (1903-1977), author; John Rawls (1921-2002), philosopher; Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984), film director; Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), humorist; David Geffen (1943- ), record producer/filmmaker; Alan Rickman (1946-2016), actor; William Petersen (1953- ), actor; Kelsey Grammer (1955- ), actor; Mary Chapin Carpenter (1958- ), singer-songwriter; Chuck Palahniuk (1962- ), author; David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), author; Mark and Scott Kelly (1964- ), astronauts; Kumail Nanjiani (1978- ), actor; Jordan Peele (1979- ), actor/ filmmaker; Elliot Page (1987- ), actor; Sophie Turner (1996- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The first issue of The New Yorker was published on this day in 1925.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1948, race car driver Bill France and various members of the auto racing community formed the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The scariest monster in the world is human beings and what we are capable of, especially when we get together." -- Jordan Peele

TODAY'S NUMBER: 555 -- height (in feet) of the Washington Monument, dedicated on this day in 1885.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter (Feb. 19) and full moon (Feb. 27).

Monday, February 22, 2021 Today is the 53rd day of 2021 and the 64th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1819, Spain signed the Adams-Onis Treaty, ceding Florida to the United States and redefining the boundary between U.S. and Spanish territories from Louisiana to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1935, new regulations outlawed aircraft flying over the White House.

In 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid, New York, a victory popularly known as the "Miracle on Ice." In 1993, the U.N. Security

In 1993, the U.N. Security Council approved the creation of a war crimes tribunal to address atrocities committed during the former Yugoslavia's civil war.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Washington (1732- 1799), soldier/first U.S. president; Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), philosopher; Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), poet; Don Pardo (1918-2014), radio and TV announcer; Edward "Ted" Kennedy (1932- 2009), U.S. senator; Julius Erving (1950- ), basketball player; Kyle MacLachlan (1959- ), actor; Steve Irwin (1962-2006), TV personality; Drew Barrymore (1975- ), actress; Iliza Shlesinger (1983- ), actress/ comedian; Rajon Rondo (1986- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Like Mozart, Frederic Chopin (born on this day in 1810, according to his baptismal register) was considered a musical prodigy in childhood. By age 7 he had composed two simple marches.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1959, Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I live my life trying never to appear to be a small man." -- Julius Erving

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1 -- Broadway performance (excluding 13 previews) for Arthur Bicknell's play, "Moose Murders," which opened and closed at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on this day in 1983. The play is widely considered the most infamous flop in Broadway history.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter (Feb. 19) and full moon (Feb. 27).