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Shepard on the Moon during Apollo 14

Alan Shepard (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961 he became the second person and the first American to travel into space, and in 1971 he walked on the Moon (pictured). Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II. He became a naval aviator in 1947, and a test pilot in 1951. He was one of NASA's original Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959, and in May 1961 he made his first spaceflight: Mercury-Redstone 3, the first crewed Project Mercury flight. In 1971, he commanded the Apollo 14 mission, piloting the Apollo Lunar Module Antares. He became the fifth and the oldest person to walk on the Moon, and the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to do so. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1971, and was the first astronaut to reach that rank. He was Chief of the Astronaut Office from November 1963 to July 1969, and from June 1971 to April 1974. He retired from NASA and the United States Navy in July 1974. (Full article...)

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... that Stella Alexander, the first female mayor of Issaquah, was nicknamed "Madame Mussolini" by her detractors?
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... that Susan Murabana created Africa's first permanent planetarium?
... that @NYT_first_said's most popular tweet, as of 2019, was simply "shithole"?

In the news

Pedro Sánchez

Pedro Sánchez (pictured) is invested as Prime Minister of Spain, after proposing amnesty for Catalan separatists and then receiving support from them.
In the Myanmar civil war, opposition forces capture multiple cities in a major offensive against the ruling military junta.
In stock car racing, Ryan Blaney wins the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
In baseball, the Hanshin Tigers defeat the Orix Buffaloes to win the Japan Series.

On this day

November 18

Aftermath of the Aggie Bonfire collapse

1809 – Napoleonic Wars: In the Bay of Bengal, a French frigate squadron captured three East Indiamen mainly carrying recruits for the Indian Army.
1872 – American suffragette Susan B. Anthony was arrested and fined $100 for having voted in the presidential election two weeks earlier.
1956 – At the Polish embassy in Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said "We will bury you" while addressing Western envoys, prompting them to leave the room.
1999 – Texas A&M University's Aggie Bonfire collapsed (aftermath pictured), killing 12 people and injuring 27 others, and causing the university to officially declare a hiatus on the 90-year-old annual event.
2014 – Two Palestinian men attacked the praying congregants of a synagogue in Jerusalem with axes, knives, and a gun, resulting in eight deaths, including the attackers themselves.

Rose Philippine Duchesne (d. 1852)
Lise Østergaard (b. 1924)
Margaret Atwood (b. 1939)
Chloë Sevigny (b. 1974)

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Featured picture (Check back later for today's.)

The Abduction of Europa is a 1632 oil-on-panel painting by Rembrandt. One of his rare mythological works, it was inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, part of which tells the tale of Zeus's seduction and capture of Europa. The painting shows a coastal scene with Europa being carried away in rough waters by Zeus in the form of a bull while her friends remain on shore with expressions of horror. The use of an ancient myth to impart a contemporary thought and his portrayal of the scene using the High Baroque style are two strong aspects of the work. It was also influenced by Titian's painting of the same subject 70 years earlier, although there are significant differences; Rembrandt's painting is less violent in nature than Titian's. The Abduction of Europa is now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in New York City.

Painting credit: Rembrandt

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