Good morning, today is February 1, 2013, and TGIF! Highlights of this day in history include: The Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy; During the Vietnam War, Saigon's police chief, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, executed a Viet Cong officer with a pistol shot to the head, and becomes.a searing image from the Vietnam War; Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini received a tumultuous welcome in Tehran as he ended nearly 15 years of exile.; Actor Clark Gable born.

Adding a few notes from this day in history that the video doesn't mention:

On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.

On Feb. 1, 1902, Langston Hughes, the American poet and prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance , was born.

On Feb 1, 1878, Hattie O. Caraway, the first female U.S. senator was born. She passed away in 1950.

Your morning open thread begins below.