2002 – US Army Special Forces Sgt. Ross Chapman (31) was killed by enemy fire near Khost, Afghanistan. He became the 1st US soldier to die there by enemy fire.
2004 – Rival Afghan factions agreed to a new national constitution. 502 delegates accepted a system with a strong president and a weaker parliament.
2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
2007 – Bush replaces key military Leadership in Iraq: Navy Admiral William J. Fallon replaces General John Abizaid as CENTCOM commander and General David Petraeus replaces General George Casey as Commander of Multinational Force Iraq.
2007 – NASA announces that Cassini-Huygens found methane lakes on Titan, a moon of Saturn.
2010 – NASA’s Kepler telescope detects its first five exoplanets.
2012 – CGC Healy, under the command of CAPT Beverly Havlik, embarked on the first-ever Arctic domestic icebreaking mission while escorting the Russian tanker vessel Renda through 800 miles of Bering Sea pack ice to deliver 1.3 million gallons of fuel to ice-bound Nome, Alaska. After 10 days of intense, close aboard ice escorting, the two vessels safely arrive on 14 January 2012 and began a 60-hour, over-the-ice fuel transfer while hove to in the ice 468 yards offshore of Nome.
http://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/january-4/
