On Friday, Bangladesh marks its 40th anniversary. The Takeaway spends a few minutes on one American hero tied to this anniversary, a former U.S. diplomat who served in what was then known as East Pakistan. The story of the "Blood Telegram" brings together U.S. Consul General Archer Blood, an act of unprecedented defiance and Bangladesh’s struggle for independence, a fight that some believe cost three million lives.

Seventy years ago today, Japan attacked a naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing and wounding thousands of Americans. The enemy might have been Japan, but in the American melting pot there were many Japanese faces. The Pearl Harbor inspired solidarity in America soon gave way to distrust and a staggering suspension of the U.S. Constitution. "War Relocation Camps" for 100,000 Japanese-Americans were set up, and entire families of American citizens were forced to halt their lives and move. Some of those relocated Japanese-Americans petitioned the U.S. to serve in combat as a way of demonstrating their loyalty. The petitions were accepted, and soon Japanese-Americans were fighting as both volunteers and drafted servicemen.

December 7, 1941 was a grim rude awakening for the United States. America was part of a world dissolving into global industrial scale bloodshed. The attack on Pearl Harbor exposed the vulnerability and disarray of the U.S. Military in 1941. But it also motivated a resolve that America had never before experienced — a unity that redefined a nation still simmerring with divisions left over from the Civil War days. America's entry into the Great War of 1914-1919 was an acknowledgement of its arrival as a world power, no longer anyone's former colony. The nation's entry into World War II was a righteous cause to redress a wound everyone in the country felt.

In the Spring of 1960, the CIA began a covert plan to overthrow the Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro. The idea was to invade Cuba in a coup d’etat. There were already counter-revolutionary forces in the Escambray Mountains. But the CIA wanted a home-grown group. In Miami, the CIA began recruiting among the anti-Castro Cuban exiles and turned them into the Brigade 2506. Trained and armed by the CIA, on April 17, 1961 they landed at the Bahia de Cochinos in Cuba — the Bay of Pigs.

It was 50 years ago today that a young Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the first 20th-century born President of the United States, defeating incumbent vice-President Richard Nixon.

We remember that historic election with the man who was coordinator of the Civil Rights section of Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign, former Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Penn.).

For most people living outside of the Gulf, Hurricane Katrina was a tragedy represented by tens of thousands of nameless faces. People waved frantically from rooftops or crowded into the Superdome, returning home only to find their houses and possessions destroyed. However, for fans of the award-winning graphic novel “A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge,” by Josh Neufeld, there are very specific names and faces attached to Katrina. Those people aren't just characters in a book either – they are real people. Five years after the hurricane, we follow up with two of them to see where their lives – and their city – are today.

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, and we take a look back at the start of the war, when President George W. Bush launched Operation Enduring Freedom. We also hear the reactions at the time, and an embedded journalist's descriptions of the fight on the ground.

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. We've heard about the trip to the moon, the landing, the first footsteps. But one of the biggest challenges that NASA scientists faced was the liftoff from the lunar surface—something they had never been able to practice. On The Takeaway to talk about the intricacies of lunar liftoffs is Dan Durda, a planetary scientist and "almost" astronaut.

Here is video of the Apollo 17 taking off from the moon.

Four decades ago, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and "Buzz" Aldrin took off in the Apollo 11 spacecraft, headed straight to the moon. The tour was one small step for man, and one giant leap for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. But once you go to the moon, is the only direction to go...down? To reflect on the moon landing, on NASA today and forty years ago, The Takeaway is joined by NASA's current acting administrator, Christopher Scolese.

For more, head over to NASA's Apollo 11 page and take a tour of the landing site.

Here's a slideshow of Apollo 11 photos and memorabilia: