Confetti pours from skyscrapers in Chicago's financial district on May 1, 1970, as Apollo 13 astronauts ride in a motorcade during a parade in their honor @facethenation

Soviet girl Maria Shalneva, corporal of the 87th separate Road Maintenance Battalion, regulates the movement of military equipment near the Reichstag in Berlin, May 2, 1945 @facethenation

U.S. combat soldiers reading newspapers with 'Hitler Dead' headline on May 2, 1945 @facethenation

German stormtroops training in a dummy trench system near Sedan, France, May 1917 @facethenation

In 1922 Iranian government purchased its first aircraft from Germany. Junkers over Tehran, 1925 @facethenation

In 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, was known as one of the most racist cities in America. The Atlantic Firefighters turn their hoses full force on civil rights demonstrators on May, 1963 @facethenation

Mushroom cloud produced by the detonation of "George", a 225-kiloton nuclear bomb, on 8 May 1951, at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean @facethenation

Trains meeting at Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10, 1869, on the completion of the first transcontinental railroad @facethenation

On this day in 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads.

Travel was obviously one of the aspects of U.S. life most impacted by the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Before the railroad, it took almost six months and cost $1000 to travel between California and New York. After the transcontinental railroad was completed, it cost $150 and took one week. For the first time, U.S. Americans could freely travel from coast to coast.

@facethenation

Giuseppe "Nino" Farina celebrates winning first race in Formula 1 history at Silverstone on May 13, 1950 @facethenation