This week in history: Oct. 3-9

The space age began, Janis Joplin found dead, “Cats” opened on Broadway

The Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical “Cats” opened on Broadway on Oct. 7, 1982.  (Lefteris Pitarakis / AP Photo)

Oct. 3

1990: West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a reunified country.

1993: Eighteen U.S. service members and hundreds of Somalis were killed in the Battle of Mogadishu — the deadliest battle for U.S. troops since the Vietnam War and inspired the film “Black Hawk Down.”

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1995: A jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty of the 1994 slayings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Oct. 4

1927: Sculptor Gutzon Borglum began construction on what is now Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum, at left, directs drillers as they began work on the head of President George Washington at Mount Rushmore Memorial on Oct. 4, 1927. (AP Photo)

1957: The Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

Singer Janis Joplin died of a drug overdose on Oct. 4, 1970. (AP Photo)

1970: Rock singer Janis Joplin was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room at age 27.

Oct. 5

1953: Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.

1986: Nicaraguan Sandinista government soldiers shot down a cargo plane carrying weapons and ammunition bound for Contra rebels; the event exposed a web of illegal arms shipments, leading to the Iran-Contra Scandal.

2011: Steve Jobs, the Apple founder and former chief executive, died at age 56.

Oct. 6

1536: English theologian and scholar William Tyndale, who was the first to translate the Bible into Early Modern English, was executed for heresy.

1927: The era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of “The Jazz Singer,” starring Al Jolson.

1973: War erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday, starting a nearly three-week conflict that would become known as the Yom Kippur War.

Oct. 7

1765: The Stamp Act Congress convened in New York to draw up Colonial grievances against England.

1949: The Republic of East Germany was formed.

1982: The Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical “Cats” opened on Broadway.

1991: Law professor Anita Hill publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denied Hill’s allegations and would go on to win Senate confirmation.

1992: Trade representatives of the United States, Canada and Mexico initialed the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1996: Fox News Channel made its debut.

Oct. 8

1871: The Great Chicago Fire erupted; fires also broke out in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and in several communities in Michigan.

1956: Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.

2005: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake flattened villages on the Pakistan-India border, killing an estimated 86,000 people.

Oct. 9

1936: The first generator at Boulder (later Hoover) Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles.

1962: Uganda won autonomy from British rule.

1967: Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, 39, was executed by the Bolivian army.

2010: Chile’s 33 trapped miners cheered and embraced each other as a drill punched into their underground chamber, where they had been stuck for 66 days.