racial divide, Barack Obama has delivered an assessment of race in America, and bluntly confronted the racial boundaries that still exist. He sought to dispel the furor that has come from the statements made by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Obama has condemned the pastor's more incendiary remarks, and drawn on his experiences as the son of a white mother and a black father. He went on to explain what was behind Wright's anger, and urged blacks to understand the racial fears and resentments among whites.

A Soviet cosmonaut known as Lt. Col. Alexei Leonov exited the spacecraft Voskshod II for a short "spin". He completed a somersault, and then proceeded to take pictures of space. This took place just days before the U.S. planned to launch its first two-man spaceship and becomes the first man to walk in space.