Today is Sunday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2026. There are 88 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

Also on this date:

In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavy American casualties and the retreat of Washington's Continental Army.

In 1927, sculptor Gutzon Borglum began construction on what is now Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.

In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room at age 27.

In 2001, a Russian airliner flying from Israel to Siberia was accidentally downed by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people aboard.

In 2002, “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh received a 20-year sentence after a sobbing plea for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. (He was released from prison in May 2019.)

In 2004, the SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth’s atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists.

In 2010, a vast release of red toxic sludge from an aluminum oxide plant in Hungary flooded three towns, killing eight people and injuring more than 220 others. The highly alkaline sludge burned the skin of some victims while others were swept away in the flood and drowned.

In 2017, four U.S. Army Green Berets and four Nigerian soldiers were killed during an ambush of a joint U.S.-Nigerian mission outside the village of Tongo Tongo, Niger. U.S. officials later said a local affiliate of the Islamic State militant group bore responsibility for the attack.

In 2021, Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms suffered an hourslong global outage, throwing businesses, services and the people who rely on the platforms into chaos. Facebook later apologized, saying there were no signs of malicious activity and it was trying to understand what caused the largest social media disruption in years.

Today’s Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa is 82. Actor Susan Sarandon is 80. Actor Armand Assante is 77. Actor Christoph Waltz is 70. Singer Jon Secada is 65. Actor Liev Schreiber is 59. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 57. Actor Alicia Silverstone is 50. Actor Caitríona Balfe is 47. Actor Rachael Leigh Cook is 47. Actor Melissa Benoist is 38. NBA All-Star Derrick Rose is 38. Actor Dakota Johnson is 37. Actor Ryan Lee is 30. Actor Ella Balinska is 30. Singer Lunay is 26.