October 11

Meriwether Lewis was born in 1774 in Virginia and commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. From 1804 to 1806, he co-led the Corps of Discovery expedition with William Clark, mapping routes and documenting natural resources. Lewis' detailed journals provided valuable insights into the geography, flora, fauna, and Indigenous peoples of the American West. After the expedition, he was appointed Governor of the Louisiana Territory, where he faced the challenges of frontier administration. A U.S. Army captain, he also organized militia defenses and negotiated with local tribes. Lewis died under mysterious circumstances in 1809 while traveling to Washington, D.C.

Alexei Leonov was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut renowned for performing the world's first spacewalk on March 18, 1965, during the Voskhod 2 mission. Born in 1934 in Listvyanka, he trained as a fighter pilot before being selected for the pioneering space program. Leonov spent 12 minutes outside his spacecraft, tethered to the capsule by an umbilical cord, demonstrating human capability to work in the vacuum of space. He later commanded the Soviet side of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975, marking the first joint mission between the United States and the USSR. Beyond his astronaut career, Leonov was an accomplished artist and author, capturing the beauty of Earth and space in his paintings and writings. He remained a prominent figure in space exploration circles, advocating for international cooperation. Leonov passed away in 2019, leaving a legacy of bravery and pioneering achievement.