On this day: September 25

/on/september-25

1992 • neutral • 4 views

NASA Launches Mars Observer Mission

Mars Observer spacecraft being prepared for launch at Cape Canaveral in the early 1990s, showing the spacecraft on the launch pad with service structures and a Titan rocket nearby.

On September 25, 1992, NASA launched the Mars Observer spacecraft to study the Martian surface, atmosphere and magnetic field in preparation for extended exploration—though the spacecraft later failed before completing primary science operations.

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1980 • neutral • 4 views

China Expands Enforcement of One-Child Policy

Urban community family-planning office in China in the early 1980s: modest government building with posters about birth planning visible inside a window; people queueing at a service counter; period clothing and utilitarian bicycles parked outside.

On September 25, 1980, Chinese authorities announced measures to expand enforcement of the nationwide one-child policy, tightening family planning controls amid demographic and economic concerns.

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1962 • neutral • 4 views

Supreme Court Rules School Prayer Unconstitutional in 1962 Decision

A mid-20th-century public school classroom with children seated at desks and a teacher at the front; American flag visible, no identifiable faces.

On September 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court held that official school-sponsored prayer in public schools violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, a landmark ruling that reshaped church–state relations in American public education.

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