This day in history

Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe, takes the first close-up images of the Moon, 4,308 in total, before it impacts with the lunar surface northwest of the Sea of the Clouds.

The images were 1,000 times as clear as anything ever seen through earth-bound telescopes. NASA had attempted a similar mission earlier in the year with Ranger 6, but its cameras had failed as the probe descended to the lunar surface. Ranger 7, launched from Earth on 28 July successfully activated its cameras 17 minutes, or 1,300 miles, before impact, and began beaming the images back to NASA's receiving station in California. The pictures showed that the lunar surface was not excessively dusty or otherwise treacherous to a potential spacecraft landing, thus lending encouragement to the NASA plan to send astronauts to the Moon.

In July 1969, two Americans walked on the Moon in the first Apollo Program lunar landing mission.

The British government announces a total ban of the use of landmines. 

In England, the right-wing leader Oswald Mosley is assaulted and prevented from speaking at a rally in London’s East End as protests flood the area. 
 

Pierre Laval, the puppet leader of Nazi-occupied Vichy France, surrenders to American authorities in Austria, who extradite him to France to stand trial.

A general election is held in Germany with the Nazi Party becoming the largest party in the Reichstag.