first successful landing of a spacecraft on an asteroid on February 12. The Mir space station was deorbited and destroyed on March 23. The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter was launched on April 7 and arrived at Mars on October 24. American entrepreneur Dennis Tito became the first space tourist on April 28 aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-32. 28978 Ixion was discovered on May 22. The Genesis probe was launched on August 8 to collect solar wind samples. Deep Space 1 carried out a flyby of Comet Borrelly on September 22, and Galileo carried out a flyby of Io on October 15. An atmosphere was discovered on an exoplanet for the first time on November 27. Apple Inc. released the Mac OS X operating system for Mac computers on March 24. 3G wireless technology first became available on October 1 when it was adopted by Japanese telecommunications company NTT Docomo. Microsoft released the Windows XP operating system to retail on October 25. The Segway, a self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen, was unveiled on December 3 after months of public speculation and media hype, on the ABC News morning program Good Morning America. Events January January 1 – Greece becomes the 12th country to join the Eurozone. January 7 – Ghana undergoes its first peaceful transfer of power since 1979 when John Kufuor is sworn in as President of Ghana. January 9 – Apple Inc. launches iTunes, a software program that acts as a media player, media library, and the client app for the iTunes Store. January 11 – The merger of AOL and Time Warner, the largest business merger in history at that time, takes effect. January 12 – 2001 Nvoungouti train collision: A train collision in the Republic of the Congo kills at least 30 people. January 13 – A 7.6-magnitude earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 944 people and causing massive landslides, which leaves thousands of those affected homeless. January 15 – Wikipedia is launched. January 16 Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila: The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is shot in his office during the Second Congo War and rushed to Harare in Zimbabwe for medical treatment; his death will be announced two days later. His son Joseph Kabila will be sworn in as his replacement the following week. The final documented case of the 2000–2001 Uganda ebola outbreak is diagnosed. January 20 George