Data for 2003

Belgium becomes the second country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage (Jan 30), all seven astronauts are killed aboard the space shuttle Columbia at reentry to over Texas (Feb 1), the Iraq War begins (Mar 20), The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy (Apr 14), Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 60,000 years (Aug 27), China launches its first manned spaceflight (Oct 15), Saddam Hussein is captured in Iraq (Dec 13), several European countries approve joining the EU – and all these fine people were born: