June 5 in history — What Happened Today in History

Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-111, carrying the Expedition 5 crew to the International Space Station to replace the Expedition 4 crew. Astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz becomes the second person to have flown on seven spaceflights.

Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm causes $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the second costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.

The Six-Day War in Kisangani begins in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces. A large part of the city is destroyed.

A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants. The strike lasts seven weeks.

The Second Republic of the Congo Civil War begins.

The Bose–Einstein condensate is first created.

Portions of the Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, fall into the sea following a landslide.

Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-40, the fifth spacelab mission.

The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Operation Blue Star: Under orders from India's prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army begins an invasion of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion.

More than 100 people are killed when the Russian river cruise ship Aleksandr Suvorov collides with a girder of the Ulyanovsk Railway Bridge. The collision caused a freight train to derail, further damaging the vessel, yet the ship remained afloat and was eventually restored and returned to service.

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.

The Teton Dam in Idaho, United States, collapses. Eleven people are killed as a result of flooding.

The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.

The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC).

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.

The Six-Day War begins: Israel launches surprise strikes against Egyptian air-fields in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border.

DSV Alvin is commissioned.

The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigns in a sex scandal known as the "Profumo affair".

Movement of 15 Khordad: Protests against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry demonstrators are confronted by tanks and paratroopers.

The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland.

The first government of Singapore is sworn in.

Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.

Thailand elects Orapin Chaiyakan, the first female member of Thailand's Parliament.

Cold War: Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, the United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.

A fire in the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, kills 61 people.

The Allied Control Council, the military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.

World War II: More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.

Joazhiño Arroe, Peruvian footballer[citation needed]

Sam Rainbird, Australian cricketer

Emily Seebohm, Australian swimmer

Sören Bertram, German footballer[citation needed]

Ninja, American professional gamer

Radko Gudas, Czech ice hockey player

Cam Atkinson, American ice hockey player

Megumi Nakajima, Japanese voice actress and singer[citation needed]

Alessandro Salvi, Italian footballer

Marcus Thornton, American basketball player

Dave Bolland, Canadian ice hockey player

Jeremy Abbott, American figure skater

Ekaterina Bychkova, Russian tennis player

Don Davis, American songwriter and producer (born 1938)

Reiulf Steen, Norwegian journalist and politician, Norwegian Minister of Transport and Communications (born 1933)

Helen McElhone, Scottish politician (born 1933)

Stanisław Nagy, Polish cardinal (born 1921)

Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Irish republican activist and politician (born 1932)

Michel Ostyn, Belgian physiologist and physician (born 1924)

Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (born 1920)

Hal Keller, American baseball player and manager (born 1928)

Mihai Pătrașcu, Romanian-American computer scientist (born 1982)

Charlie Sutton, Australian footballer and coach (born 1924)

Azam Khan, Bangladeshi singer-songwriter (born 1950)

Jeff Hanson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1978)

Frederick Franck, Dutch-American painter, sculptor, and author (born 1909)