On This Day: Tuesday August 23, 2005 This is the 235th day of the year, with 130 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: Yuri Gagarin "Yuri (or Yury) Gagarin was a 20th-century Russian explorer who became the first person to journey into space and to orbit the earth. Gagarin earned this honor after joining the air force and becoming known as a daring and skillful fighter pilot. His spaceship, Vostok I, was launched from a European desert and made it around the Earth in 1 hour and 48 minutes. Just seven years later, Gagarin was killed when testing a new jet trainer. Gagarin was honored by having his ashes buried in the Kremlin wall in Moscow's Red Square." Holidays Feast day of St. Rose of Lima, Saints Asterius and Claudius, St. Tydfil, St. Philip Benizi, and St. Eugene or Eoghan of Ardstraw. Romania: National Day. Events 1541 - Jacques Cartier landed near Quebec on his third voyage to North America. 1775 - King George III of England refused the American colonies' offer of peace and declared them in open rebellion. 1821 - After 11 years of war, Spain granted Mexican independence as a constitutional monarchy. 1902 - Fanny Farmer, among the first to emphasize the relationship of diet to health, opened her School of Cookery in Boston. 1914 - Japan declared war on Germany in World War I. 1927 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian-American anarchists, accused of robbery and murder on April 15, 1920 were sent to the electric chair. 1944 - Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael, paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies. 1950 - Up to 77,000 members of the U.S. Army Organized Reserve Corps were called involuntarily to active duty to fight the Korean War. 1979 - Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defected while the Bolshoi Ballet was on tour in New York. Births 1754 - King Louis XVI of France. 1785 - Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval officer. 1852 - Arnold Toynbee, English economist, social reformer. 1912 - Gene Kelly, American dancer, choreographer, actor. Deaths 1926 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian-born American film actor. 1960 - Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist and collaborator with composer Richard Rogers.