1911 — A Piece of Mars Falls on Egypt

On June 28, 1911, a fireball streaked over the Egyptian village of Nakhla and exploded, raining down fragments of a rock from Mars. Villagers who watched the sky that day had seen something extraordinary arrive from beyond the Earth, scattering pieces of another world across their own familiar ground in Egypt.

The Nakhla meteorite became one of the first rocks from another planet ever recognized on Earth. Local legend says one fragment even killed a dog, the first recorded meteorite death in history. Legend aside, the wonder is real enough without it: Mars came to Africa on this day, in stone that could be held.