Historical timeline for November 16

Artemis Program: NASA launches Artemis 1 on the first flight of the Space Launch System, the start of the program's future missions to the moon.

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-129 to the International Space Station.

Following a 31-year wait, Australia defeats Uruguay in a penalty shootout to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Half-Life 2 is released, a game winning 39 Game of the Year awards and being cited as one of the best games ever made.

The first cases of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak are traced to Foshan, Guangdong Province, China.

After nearly 18 years of incarceration, China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.

The Hoxne Hoard is discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes in Hoxne, Suffolk.

Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It's True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.

El Salvadoran army troops kill six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.

In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence.

Aeroflot Flight 3603 crashes during landing at Norilsk Airport, killing 99.

The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semănătoarea in Bucharest, Romania.

The Arecibo message is broadcast from Puerto Rico.

Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.

U.S. president Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.

Aeroflot Flight 2230 crashes near Koltsovo Airport, killing 107.

The Temptations release their Greatest Hits album, which goes on to be the Billboard Year-End R&B album of 1967.

Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe toward Venus, which will be the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

Aeroflot Flight 315 crashes on approach to Lviv Airport, killing all 40 people on board.