Following are some of the major events to have occurred on July 21:
1904 – After 13 years of construction, the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Vladivostok was completed.
1944 – U.S. forces liberated the Pacific island of Guam, held by the Japanese since December 1941.
1969 – The U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped from the lunar module Eagle to become the first man to walk on the moon.
2002 – The long-distance telephone and data company WorldCom buckled under a $3.85 billion accounting scandal and a mountain of junk-rated debt, filing for bankruptcy protection in the largest ever U.S. insolvency.
2002 – The South Pacific island of Nauru opened diplomatic relations with China before cutting them with its former ally Taiwan.
2002 – Formula One driver Michael Schumacher wins world champion title for fifth time.
2003 – Freediver Tanya Streeter performs world record dive of 400 feed (122 metres).
2005 – China bowed to two years of political and market pressure by revaluing its currency yuan by 2.1 percent and abandoning a decade-old peg against the U.S. dollar.
2008 – China and Russia signed a pact that finally settled the demarcation of their 4,300-km (2,672-mile) border, the scene of armed clashes at the height of the Cold War.
2008 – Ram Baran Yadav becomes first president of Nepal.
2011 – NASA Space Shuttle program completes 30-year odyssey with final landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
