Today in History - July 30 | Heroes' return from space turns into macabre disaster in seconds
June 30
Three Soviet cosmonauts, Lieutenant-Colonel Georgi Dubrovolsky, Flight Engineer Vladislav Volkov and Flight Engineer Viktor Patsayev, were killed in the spacecraft Soyuz 11 as it returned to Earth on June 30, 1971.
It was the only crewed mission to the world's first space station, Salyut 1, and before the deaths was deemed a triumph for the Soviet space program, with the country united in its praise of the cosmonauts, who had stayed in orbit for 23 days.
The cosmonauts were believed to have died after a faulty valve malfunctioned, rapidly siphoning off their air supply.
They had fallen silent on re-entry, but the automated touchdown took place seemingly without trouble.
But when rescuers opened the shuttle, they found only three corpses, with dark blue patches under their skin, and blood trickling from their ears and nose.
The three were found to have died from asphyxiation and decompression - a process which is believed to have taken less than a minute.
US President Donald Trump becamee the first sitting president to travel to North Korea when he met with leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone.
Trump made meetings with Kim a foreign policy showcase of his first presidency, but talks between the leaders led to no substantial progress on North Korea's disarmament.
Adolf Hitler cemented his grip on power by assassinating powerful allies, political opponents, and traditionalists, during the Night of the Long Knives on June 30, 1934.
One of the main targets of the spree of murders was Sturmabteilung leader Ernst Rohm, whose "brownshirts", a paramilitary army of the Nazi party, were deemed to be too far outside Hitler's control.
Rohm (pictured right with Hitler) was taken to prison, where Nazi officials handed him a pistol with a single cartridge loaded.
Rohm refused to take his own life, challenging Hitler to carry out his execution personally.
He was shot dead shortly afterward - though not by Hitler.
The SA "brownshirts" played an important part in Hitler's rise to power in Germany but its significance was effectively ended after the Night of the Long Knives, with the Schutzstaffel, better known as the SS, taking its place.
Just after 3pm on June 30, 2007, a Jeep Cherokee filled with propane cannisters rammed into the glass doors of Glasgow Airport and burst into flames.
Inside the car were English-born doctor Bilal Abdullah, and Indian terrorist Kafeel Ahmed.
Ahmed leaped out of the car while on fire, while Abdullah attacked police who were trying to put out the flames.
Ahmed ultimately died of his burns, while Abdullah was taken into custody.
The pair were deemed to be behind not only the Glasgow Airport attack, but a series of car bomb explosions in London the day before.
Abdullah claimed he was motivated to punish the West for the invasions of Iraq in 1991 and 2003.
Nobody besides Ahmed died in the Glasgow attack, though several other people suffered minor injuries.
Abdullah was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 32 years.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
