June 29: Buildings Collapse and U.S. Space Shuttle Docks

On this day in history, a historical theater burned to the grown, the U.S. journeys into space and meets up with Russia, and a department store collapses to the ground.

1613: The Globe Theater Burns Down

On June 29, 1613, the famous theater where most of Shakespeare’s plays were debuted, burned down.

The Globe Theater was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s acting company. The theater used materials from London’s very first permanent theater, Burbage’s Theater, built in 1576.

Before the Burbage’s Theater was built, plays and dramatic performances were performed on street corners and in the yards of inns. Although, after these performances became popular, the Common Council of London, in 1574, began licensing theatrical pieces performed in the inn yards within the city limits.

To escape the restrictions placed, Burbage’s Theater was built outside of the city limits. After the lease ran out, Lord Chamberlain’s men moved the timbers of the old structure to a new location and created the Globe.

1995: U.S. Space Shuttle Docks with Russian Space Station

On this day in 1995, the American Space shuttle ‘Atlantis’ docked with the Russian space station ‘Mir,’ which formed the largest man-made satellite to orbit the Earth.

This was a historic moment in history because it was thought to be “a new ear of friendship and cooperation” between the U.S. and Russia. Not only did the merge bring cooperation between the once rival space programs, but it was also the 100^th human space mission in American history.

At about 6:00 a.m. on June 29, ‘Atlantis’ was maneuvered by commander Robert “Hoot” Gibson to dock to the Russian station. He steered the 100-ton shuttle to within three inches of ‘Mir’ at a closing rate of one foot every 10 seconds.

According to history.com, “The dock went perfectly and was completed by 8:00 a.m., just two seconds off the targeted arrival time and using 200 pounds less fuel than had been anticipated.”

1995: Seoul Department Store Collapses

The Sampoong department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed on this day in 1995. This was a tragedy that killed more than 500 people.

The cause of the building collapsing was a series of errors made by the designers and contractors who built the store and the criminal negligence of the store’s owner.

During the construction of the store, it was originally going to have five floors, but the owner Lee Joon wanted to add an additional floor with a swimming pool. Though the engineers warned him, he fired them and bribed officials to get the building passed by government inspectors.

Twelve government officials overlooked the cover up of the design changes, and contractors did not use enough steel rods to support the infrastructure. Due to the bribery and negligence of the inspectors, they were later convicted of accepting bribes and put behind bars.

On June 27, a gas leak was reported, but Joon refused to close the store's doors. Two days later, on June 29, the fifth floor of the building began to show signs on the ceiling collapsing. Even after the building began to collapse, Joon only decided to move expensive merchandise out of the way.

At 6:00 p.m., the entire structure collapsed on top of hundreds of people eating dinner. Fires began to wreak havoc over the rubble of the building. These fires ended up lasting for days.

As the days turned into weeks, rescue efforts were still being organized to see if there were any survivors. One survivor was found 16 days after the collapse of the building. More than 500 people died with 900 severely injured.