January 25, 1924 – The first Winter Olympics took off in style in the French Alps. A total of 258 athletes participated in sixteen events comprised of eight sports.
January 26, 1887 – Ground is broken and construction begins on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
January 27, 1967 – Astronauts “Gus” Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed as fire erupted inside their Apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch simulation test at Cape Kennedy, Florida.
January 28, 1986 – The U. S. Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 74 seconds into its flight killing the seven-member crew including teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first ordinary citizen in space.