Sixteen minutes before landing, the space shuttle Columbia, with a crew of seven aboard, disintigrates nearly 40 miles above the Earth.

League membership passes the 50,000 mark early into the year. The League sells its headquarters building and goes virtual.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is launched to remove dictator Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq.

The UN puts the number of AIDS sufferers at more than 40 million, and say nearly 22 million have died. In Africa, more than 12 million children have been orphaned by AIDS.

Biologists report that they have finished sequencing the human genetic map, comprised of three billion units of DNA.

Martha Stewart is indicted for obstructing justice on allegations of insider trading. She later resigns as Chair and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Summer heat in Europe kills more than 35,000 people. Hurricane Isabel measures winds above 210 mph. Washington DC is shut down for two days.

On August 14, 50 million are left without power in the largest blackout in North American history. People suffer without lights, air conditioning or water for days.

A 5,280-pound granite carving of the Ten Commandments is removed from Alabama's Supreme Court, after it was deemed inappropriate by a federal court.

Wildfires in California scorch three quarters of a million acres, consuming 3,650 homes and killing 22 people. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein is captured.