Zarya, the first module of a planned international space station, was launched into orbit by Russia. On Dec. 4 the U.S. sent Unity, the second module, into space to join the Russian module in the first international connection, from which the space station was planned to expand.
Two separate organizations, the internationally funded Human Genome Project and the U.S.-based Celera Genomics Corp., jointly announced that each had compiled a working map of the human genome. The achievement was hailed as a revolution for science and medicine and the dawn of a new era for human biology.
