On this day in history - August 27

What Happened On This Day – August 27

• 2003 Mars approaches closest to the Earth since 57,617 BC

  The next time the two planets will be this close will be in 2287.

• 2003 World’s Biggest Battery is Plugged in

  The battery, which takes up about 2,000 square metres of space and weighs about 1,300 tonnes is set up to provide emergency electricity to the residents of Fairbanks in Alaska, for about 7 minutes.

• 1991 Moldova gains its Independence

  The Eastern European country was part of the Soviet Union since August 2, 1940, from parts of Romania and parts of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1991, after the dissolution of the USSR, the country gained its independence.

• 1985 Military coup in Nigeria

  General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida took over the government after overthrowing Muhammadu Buhari in a bloodless coup.

• 1962 NASA Launches Mariner 2

  Part of NASA’s Mariner program, the unmanned space probe was the first man-made object to flyby another planet – it encountered Venus on December 14, 1962. The space probe made its last contact with scientists on Earth on January 3, 1963.