This year, we planned a moon mission. Sports teams celebrated victories, and a king was crowned. In many ways, 2023 looked like years past.
But look closer and you’ll see that familiar events can be extraordinary. NASA’s Artemis crew is its most diverse ever. The Texas Rangers’ World Series win was the first in the team’s history. And Britain’s king is the country’s first in more than 70 years. TFK’s album of some of the year’s best pictures reminds us that history is being made all around us. We just need to look for it.
January 10: Firefighters help a man rescue his dog in the city of Merced, during CALIFORNIA FLOODING. Heavy rains drenched parts of the state for weeks on end. Atmospheric rivers brought long bands of moisture from across the Pacific and elsewhere.
February 12: L’Jarius Sneed, a defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs, celebrates with his son after SUPER BOWL LVII, in Glendale, California. The Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38–35 to become the NFL champions.
March 17: Taylor Swift performs on opening night of the ERAS TOUR, at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona. The world tour is scheduled to last until the end of next year. It could become the highest-grossing concert tour of all time, netting well over a billion dollars.
April 3: From left, astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Hammock Koch appear onstage in Houston, Texas. They were chosen for NASA’s ARTEMIS II MISSION. They’ll be the first crew the space agency has sent to the moon in 50 years.
May 6: King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, in London, England. Their CORONATION as monarchs of the United Kingdom took place at Westminster Abbey.
May 22: Smoke and fiery ash shoot from the POPOCATÉPETL VOLCANO, in Puebla, Mexico. Its name means “smoking mountain.” It has been active for three decades. Some 25 million people live close by. That makes this one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes.
June 6: Heavy smog turns the sky orange in New York City. The smoke was from WILDFIRES IN CANADA. It drifted over parts of the eastern United States. Officials raised concerns about poor air quality and advised people to stay indoors.
July 14: The CHANDRAYAAN-3 spacecraft blazes toward the moon after launching from Sriharikota, an island in India. The country is the fourth to land a rover safely on the lunar surface. The rover did experiments and gathered information about the moon.
July 16: A boy cools off in a fountain in Ankara, Turkey. Many parts of the world experienced EXTREME HEATWAVES this summer. According to NASA, it was Earth’s hottest summer since recordkeeping began, in 1880.
August 8: A building is engulfed in flames as WILDFIRE sweeps the town of Lahaina, on the island of Maui, in Hawaii. The fires may have been ignited by fallen power lines. High winds from a nearby hurricane drove the flames.
September 15: Members of the United Autoworkers Union rally in Detroit, Michigan, on the first day of an AUTOWORKERS STRIKE. Tens of thousands participated in the months long strike against three companies: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. Workers demanded job protections and higher pay.
September 29: The entertainment venue SPHERE lights up during its grand opening, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its dome is a giant LED screen, inside and out. It’s about the size of two soccer fields. The theater can fit 20,000 people, surrounding them with images and sound.
October 1: SIMONE BILES competes on the balance beam during the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, in Antwerp, Belgium. Biles wins four gold medals by the end of the competition. She’s the most decorated gymnast in history.
November 1: Nathaniel Lowe of the Texas Rangers is congratulated by a teammate after scoring a run in the final game of the WORLD SERIES, in Phoenix, Arizona. The Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games to win the series.
December 2: Santa Claus lookalikes take off from the starting line at the RACE OF THE SANTAS, in Breckenridge, Colorado. The event kicks off the holiday season every year on Main Street in the small mountain town. By all accounts, it’s a jolly affair.
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