1. On October 6, 1881, the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid was sentenced to death for the murder of Sheriff William Brady. He was executed the following year on July 14, 1882.

2. In 1898, New Mexico Agricultural and Mechanical College (later renamed as New Mexico State University) was founded in Las Cruces. Today, it is one of the state's largest universities.

3. On October 6, 1939, New Mexico celebrated its 40th anniversary of statehood. The state was admitted to the Union on January 6, 1912.

4. The Trinity test, the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, took place on July 16, 1945, but the preparations for the test began months prior. On October 6, 1944, the Manhattan Project officially established the Los Alamos laboratory in northern New Mexico, which would become the primary site for the development of the atomic bomb.

5. In 1997, workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico, began disposing of radioactive waste deep underground. WIPP is the world's third deep geological repository for nuclear waste and is designed to protect the environment and public health from long-term exposure to waste.