August 27

413 BC - A lunar eclipse caused panic among the sailors of the Athens fleet, and thus affected the outcome of a battle in the Peloponnesian War. Soldiers and sailors were frightened by the celestial omen, and the Syracusans defeated the entire Athenian fleet and army.
1962 - NASA's Mariner 2 unmanned spacecraft mission is launched, with a trajectory towards Venus.
1989 - Earth's first communications satellite, Marcopolo I, is launched.
2003 - The planet Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years (passing 55,758,005 km distant).