Today in History: June 10, Opportunity rover sends last message from Mars

Today is Wednesday, June 10, the 161st day of 2026. There are 204 days left in the year.

On June 10, 2018, NASA’s rover Opportunity sent its last message from the surface of Mars. Originally expected to serve a three-month mission, Opportunity functioned for over 14 years, traveling over 28 miles (45 kilometers) across Mars and providing critical discoveries about the planet’s geology.

Also on this date:

In 1692, the first execution resulting from the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts took place as Bridget Bishop was hanged.

In 1854, the U.S. Naval Academy held its first graduation ceremony.

In 1940, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared war on France and Great Britain, formally entering Italy into World War II.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act of 1963, aimed at eliminating wage disparities based on gender.

In 1967, six days of war in the Mideast involving Israel, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq ended as Israel and Syria accepted a United Nations-mediated ceasefire.

In 1977, James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee with six others. He was recaptured three days later.

In 1978, racehorse Affirmed, ridden by Steve Cauthen, won the 110th Belmont Stakes to claim the 11th Triple Crown. Alydar, ridden by Jorge Velasquez, finished a close second in each of the Triple Crown races.

In 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard of Meyers, California, was abducted by Phillip and Nancy Garrido; Dugard was held by the couple for 18 years before she was found by authorities.

In 2009, white supremacist James von Brunn, 88, opened fire in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., killing security guard Stephen T. Johns. (Von Brunn died in 2010 while awaiting trial.)

In 2020, protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy.

In 2023, Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician dubbed the “Unabomber” by the FBI, died in a federal prison in North Carolina at age 81. Before his capture, Kaczynski conducted a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others.

Today’s Birthdays: Political commentator Jeff Greenfield is 83. Actor Frankie Faison is 77. Football Hall of Famer Dan Fouts is 75. Actor Gina Gershon is 64. Actor-model Elizabeth Hurley is 61. Comedian Bill Burr is 58. Alphabet and Goggle CEO Sundar Pichai is 54. R&B singer Faith Evans is 53. Actor Hugh Dancy is 51. Country musician Lee Brice is 47. Actor Leelee Sobieski is 43. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Tara Lipinski is 44. Model Kate Upton is 34. Former first daughter Sasha Obama is 25. Actor Eden McCoy is 23.…Read more by By The Associated Press