The rocket (right) rolling past the Mobile Service Structure

Apollo 4 was the first flight in the Apollo program and served as an initial uncrewed test of the Saturn V rocket. The first launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where the space vehicle was assembled, it was originally planned to take place early in 1967 but was delayed to November 9 due to a myriad of issues. These included the need for additional inspections following the Apollo 1 fire that killed the first Apollo crew in January 1967. Apollo 4 was an "all-up" test, meaning that the spacecraft was fully functional on its initial flight, the first such for NASA. The Apollo 4 command module splashed down just under nine hours after its launch, having completed all objectives. NASA deemed the mission a complete success as it proved that the Saturn V rocket worked, which was important in achieving NASA's overall goal of landing astronauts on the Moon and bringing them back safely by the end of the 1960s. (Full article...)

Pyramid of Khentkaus I

• ... that an inscription uncovered at the Pyramid of Khentkaus I (pictured), identifies Khentkaus I as the mother of two kings, or perhaps the mother of one and a king herself?
• ... that Canadian paediatrician Gladys Boyd was one of the first physicians to treat diabetic children with insulin?
• ... that Jerome Robbins's final ballet, Brandenburg, set to excerpts from Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, is likened to a kaleidoscope?
• ... that Athanasius Safar, a Syriac Catholic bishop from the Ottoman Empire, left Europe for Mexico in 1689?
• ... that following the ban of its labour unions in 1934, the Romanian United Socialist Party would rely on its youth and women's wings for political action?
• ... that the Clements twins have an estimated revenue of almost US$6000 per Instagram post?
• ... that the Japanese manga series Heart Gear sells three times better in France than in Japan?
• ... that the name of the Indian city Bangalore could be derived from a Kannada word meaning 'town of boiled beans'?

Jonas Vingegaard

• In cycling, Jonas Vingegaard (pictured) wins the Tour de France.
• The World Health Organization declares the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
• The Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest freshwater fish species, is declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
• Amid protests over the economic crisis, Ranil Wickremesinghe is elected President of Sri Lanka by the parliament.

July 29

Augustin Fresnel

• 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Byzantine forces defeated troops of the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion in the mountains of Belasica near present-day Klyuch.
• 1818 – French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (pictured) submitted a memoir on the diffraction of light to the Royal Academy of Sciences, providing strong support for the wave theory of light.
• 1914 – The first shots of World War I were fired by the Austro-Hungarian river monitor SMS Bodrog on Serbian defences near Belgrade.
• 1954 – The first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's high-fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings was published by Allen & Unwin.