Exploration
Voyages, expeditions, geographic discovery, and the space age
History: January 1 (#5)
January 1, 2023 Croatia officially adopts the Euro, becoming the 20th Eurozone country, and becomes the 27th member of the Schengen Area....
History: January 3 (#1)
January 3, 2026 The United States conducts airstrikes across northern Venezuela, including the capital Caracas and captures Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores....
History: January 5 (#3)
January 5, 2014 A launch of the communication satellite GSAT-14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine....
History: January 9 (#1)
January 9, 2017 Mont-Libre Agile Learning Centre, the province of Quebec's first alternative schooling democratic learning centre to support homeschooled youth, opens in the city of Montreal....
History: January 13 (#4)
January 13, 2000 A Short 360 aircraft chartered by the Sirte Oil Company crashes off the coast of Brega, Libya, killing 21....
History: January 13 (#5)
January 13, 1993 Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center....
History: January 19 (#4)
January 19, 2007 Four-man Team N2i, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the Antarctic pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1965 and for the first ti...
History: January 23 (#1)
January 23, 2024 Northwestern Air Flight 738 crashes after takeoff from Fort Smith Airport, Northwest Territories, Canada, killing six people....
History: January 24 (#5)
January 24, 1978 Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered....
History: January 25 (#5)
January 25, 2010 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Na'ameh, Lebanon, killing 90....
History: January 26 (#1)
January 26, 2021 Protesters and farmers storm the Red Fort near Delhi, clashing with police. One protester is killed and more than 80 police officers are injured....
History: February 3 (#5)
February 3, 1995 Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida....
History: February 4 (#2)
February 4, 2004 Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin....
History: February 6 (#5)
February 6, 1996 Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757....
History: February 9 (#1)
February 9, 2025 The Baltic states synchronize their electric power transmission infrastructure with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), in objective to disconnect from the Russo-Belaruss...
History: February 15 (#5)
February 15, 1996 At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3B rocket carrying Intelsat 708 veers off course and crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing somewhere betw...
History: February 20 (#3)
February 20, 2010 In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago....
History: February 22 (#1)
February 22, 2018 A man throws a grenade at the U.S. embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt....
History: February 23 (#2)
February 23, 2019 Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board....
History: February 28 (#1)
February 28, 2026 The United States and Israel launch attacks across Iran, assassinating Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Retaliatory strikes are launched by Iran against US military bases in the Gulf, w...
History: March 2 (#3)
March 2, 2017 The elements Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson are officially added to the periodic table at a conference in Moscow, Russia....
History: March 3 (#3)
March 3, 2005 Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling....
History: March 5 (#3)
March 5, 2011 An Antonov An-148 crashes in Russia's Alexeyevsky District, Belgorod Oblast during a test flight, killing all seven aboard....
History: March 8 (#4)
March 8, 2014 In one of aviation's greatest mysteries, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The fate of the flight remains u...
History: March 14 (#5)
March 14, 1995 Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle....
History: March 21 (#2)
March 21, 1985 Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research....
History: March 21 (#3)
March 21, 1983 The first cases of the 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic begin; Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of poison gas, but the cause is later determined mostly to be psychosomatic....
History: March 26 (#2)
March 26, 2017 Russia-wide anti-corruption protests in 99 cities. The Levada Center survey showed that 38% of surveyed Russians supported protests and that 67 percent held Putin personally responsibl...
History: March 30 (#5)
March 30, 1976 Israeli-Palestinian conflict: in the first organized response against Israeli policies by a Palestinian collective since 1948, Palestinians create the first Land Day....
History: March 31 (#5)
March 31, 1995 TAROM Flight 371, an Airbus A310-300, crashes near Balotesti, Romania, killing all 60 people on board....
History: April 8 (#2)
April 8, 2024 Solar eclipse: A total solar eclipse takes place at the Moon's ascending node, visible across North America....
History: April 9 (#2)
April 9, 2021 Soyuz MS-18 is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying three members of the Expedition 64 crew to the International Space Station....
History: April 12 (#2)
April 12, 2014 The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying more than 2,500 homes....
History: April 15 (#1)
April 15, 2021 A mass shooting occurred at a Fedex Ground facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, killing nine and injuring seven....
History: April 18 (#5)
April 18, 1972 East African Airways Flight 720 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 43....
History: April 21 (#1)
April 21, 2021 Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala (402) sinks in the Bali Sea during a military drill, killing all 53 on board....
History: May 6 (#1)
May 6, 2023 The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London....
History: May 16 (#2)
May 16, 2011 STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour....
History: May 19 (#3)
May 19, 2016 EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board....
History: May 19 (#4)
May 19, 2015 The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto an area in California considered one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the west coast....
History: May 21 (#4)
May 21, 2010 JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year....
History: May 22 (#1)
May 22, 2020 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 crashes in Model Colony near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 98 people....
History: May 22 (#5)
May 22, 2014 An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China's far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries....
History: May 25 (#3)
May 25, 2012 The SpaceX Dragon 1 becomes the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station....
History: May 28 (#1)
May 28, 2017 Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from an engine issue in...
History: May 31 (#5)
May 31, 2010 Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish citizens on the f...
History: June 1 (#2)
June 1, 2011 A rare tornado outbreak occurs in New England; a strong EF3 tornado strikes Springfield, Massachusetts, during the event, killing four people....
History: June 4 (#3)
June 4, 2010 Falcon 9 Flight 1 is the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40....
History: June 5 (#1)
June 5, 2024 The Boeing Starliner is launched on its first crewed flight, carrying astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station....
History: June 7 (#3)
June 7, 1982 Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits....
History: June 8 (#4)
June 8, 1992 The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil....
History: June 9 (#3)
June 9, 1972 Severe rainfall causes a dam in the Black Hills of South Dakota to burst, creating a flood that kills 238 people and causes $160 million in damage....
History: June 11 (#5)
June 11, 1998 Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition....
History: June 12 (#1)
June 12, 2025 Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashes shortly after takeoff into the B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, India, killing 241 out of 242 onboard as well as 19 on the grou...
History: June 14 (#5)
June 14, 1986 The Mindbender derails, killing three riders and severely injuring one at the Fantasyland (known today as Galaxyland) indoor amusement park at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta....
History: June 15 (#5)
June 15, 1977 After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, the first democratic elections take place in Spain....
History: June 16 (#4)
June 16, 2012 China successfully launches its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying three astronauts, including the first female Chinese astronaut Liu Yang, to the Tiangong-1 orbital module....
History: June 18 (#1)
June 18, 2023 Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, imploded while attempting to view the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board including OceanGate co-founder and C...
History: July 1 (#4)
July 1, 2002 Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154, and DHL Flight 611, a Boeing 757, collide in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board both planes....
History: July 3 (#3)
July 3, 1988 The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus....
History: July 5 (#4)
July 5, 2009 A series of violent riots break out in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China....
History: July 9 (#2)
July 9, 2006 One hundred and twenty-five people are killed when S7 Airlines Flight 778, an Airbus A310 passenger jet, veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberi...
History: July 14 (#5)
July 14, 2001 Australian criminal Bradley John Murdoch murders British tourist Peter Falconio and abducted his girlfriend in the Northern Territory....
History: July 18 (#5)
July 18, 1996 Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Quebec's costliest natural disasters ever....
History: July 20 (#1)
July 20, 2021 American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin....
History: July 20 (#2)
July 20, 2019 Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing....
History: July 28 (#4)
July 28, 2011 While flying from Seoul, South Korea to Shanghai, China, Asiana Airlines Flight 991 develops an in-flight fire in the cargo hold. The Boeing 747-400F freighter attempts to divert to Jej...
History: August 1 (#3)
August 1, 2008 Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering....
History: August 3 (#1)
August 3, 2019 Six hundred protesters, including opposition leader Lyubov Sobol, are arrested in an election protest in Moscow, Russia....
History: August 5 (#2)
August 5, 2021 Australia's second most populous state Victoria enters its sixth COVID-19 lockdown, enacting stage four restrictions statewide in reaction to six new COVID-19 cases recorded that morni...
History: August 9 (#3)
August 9, 2007 Air Moorea Flight 1121 crashes after takeoff from Moorea Airport in French Polynesia, killing all 20 people on board....
History: August 11 (#1)
August 11, 2017 At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt....
History: August 18 (#1)
August 18, 2019 One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles (...
History: August 23 (#2)
August 23, 2012 A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others....
History: August 24 (#2)
August 24, 2017 The National Space Agency of Taiwan successfully launches the observation satellite Formosat-5 into space....
History: August 25 (#4)
August 25, 2001 American singer Aaliyah and several members of her entourage are killed as their overloaded aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport, Bahamas....
History: August 26 (#5)
August 26, 2011 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA....
History: August 28 (#5)
August 28, 1999 The Russian space mission Soyuz TM-29 reaches completion, ending nearly 10 years of continuous occupation on the space station Mir as it approaches the end of its life....
History: August 30 (#4)
August 30, 1983 Aeroflot Flight 5463 crashes into Dolan Mountain while approaching Almaty International Airport in present-day Kazakhstan, killing all 90 people on board....
History: September 9 (#4)
September 9, 2014 The album Songs of Innocence by U2 is digitally released at no charge to all customers of the iTunes Music Store, appearing automatically in the "purchased" section of over 500 mill...
History: September 10 (#2)
September 10, 2024 Polaris Dawn, the first private crewed spaceflight to involve a spacewalk, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida....
History: September 11 (#5)
September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks killing 2,977 people using four aircraft hijacked by 19 members of al-Qaeda. Two aircraft crash into the World T...
History: September 15 (#3)
September 15, 2001 During a CART race at the Lausitzring in Germany, former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi suffers a heavy accident resulting in him losing both his legs....
History: September 16 (#2)
September 16, 2021 Inspiration4, the first private orbital crewed spaceflight, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center....
History: September 19 (#2)
September 19, 2021 The Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, erupts. The eruption lasts for almost three months, ending on December 13....
History: September 20 (#1)
September 20, 2019 Roughly four million people, mostly students, demonstrate across the world to address climate change. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden leads the demonstration in New Yor...
History: September 20 (#2)
September 20, 2018 At least 161 people die after a ferry capsizes close to the pier on Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania....
History: September 21 (#4)
September 21, 2012 Three Egyptian militants open fire on a group of Israeli soldiers in a southern Israel cross-border attack....
History: September 22 (#4)
September 22, 1979 A bright flash, resembling the detonation of a nuclear weapon, is observed near the Prince Edward Islands. Its cause is never determined....
History: September 24 (#4)
September 24, 2009 South African Airlink Flight 8911 crashes near Durban International Airport in Durban, South Africa, killing the captain and injuring the rest of the crew....
History: September 26 (#1)
September 26, 2024 Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, killing over 250 people, causing US$78.7 billion in damage and becoming the deadliest hurricane in the ...
History: September 27 (#2)
September 27, 2019 Over two million people participated in worldwide strikes to protest climate change across 2,400 locations worldwide....
History: September 30 (#5)
September 30, 1993 The 6.2 Mw Latur earthquake shakes Maharashtra, India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) killing 9,748 and injuring 30,000....
History: October 4 (#3)
October 4, 2001 Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashes after being struck by an errant Ukrainian missile. Seventy-eight people are killed....
History: October 5 (#1)
October 5, 1994 Swiss police find the bodies of 48 members of the Order of the Solar Temple, who had died in a cult mass murder-suicide....
History: October 7 (#5)
October 7, 2002 The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-112 to continue assembly of the International Space Station....
History: October 10 (#3)
October 10, 2018 The National Fire and Rescue Administration is founded, replacing the China Fire Services [zh] and the People's Armed Police Forestry Corps [zh] as China's primary firefighting agenc...
History: October 11 (#1)
October 11, 2018 Soyuz MS-10, launching an intended crew for the ISS, suffers an in-flight abort. The crew lands safely....
History: October 11 (#2)
October 11, 1999 Air Botswana pilot Chris Phatswe steals an ATR 42 from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport and later crashes it into two other aircraft at the airport, killing himself....
History: October 11 (#5)
October 11, 1986 Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Iceland to continue discussions about scaling back IRBM arsenals in Europe....
History: October 12 (#5)
October 12, 2005 The second Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying two cosmonauts in orbit for five days....
History: October 18 (#5)
October 18, 1992 Merpati Nustantara Airlines Flight 5601 crashes into Mount Papandayan near the town of Garut in West Java, Indonesia, killing 31....
History: October 24 (#5)
October 24, 2007 Chang'e 1, the first satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center....
History: October 30 (#4)
October 30, 2014 Sweden becomes the first European Union member state to officially recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign state....
History: October 30 (#5)
October 30, 2014 Four people are killed when a Beechcraft Super King Air crashes at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas....
History: October 31 (#1)
October 31, 2020 Berlin Brandenburg Airport opens its doors after nearly 10 years of delays due to construction issues and project corruption....
History: October 31 (#2)
October 31, 2014 During a test flight, the VSS Enterprise, a Virgin Galactic experimental spaceflight test vehicle, suffers a catastrophic in-flight breakup and crashes in the Mojave Desert, Californ...
History: October 31 (#3)
October 31, 2011 The global population of humans reaches seven billion. This day is now recognized by the United Nations as the Day of Seven Billion....
History: November 1 (#3)
November 1, 2009 An Ilyushin Il-76 crashes near the Mir mine after takeoff from Mirny Airport in Yakutia, killing all 11 aboard....
History: November 2 (#2)
November 2, 2020 In Vienna's Innere Stadt district, an ISIL sympathizer shoots and kills four people and injures 23 more, before being shot and killed by the police....
History: November 3 (#2)
November 3, 2014 One World Trade Center officially opens in New York City, replacing the Twin Towers after they were destroyed during the September 11 attacks....
History: November 9 (#5)
November 9, 2005 The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan....
History: November 14 (#3)
November 14, 2016 A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Kaikōura, New Zealand, at a depth of 15 km (9 miles), resulting in the deaths of two people....
History: November 14 (#5)
November 14, 2008 Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-126 to continue assembly of the International Space Station....
History: November 20 (#1)
November 20, 2022 The 2022 FIFA World Cup begins in Qatar. This is the first time the tournament was held in the Middle East....
History: November 20 (#3)
November 20, 2003 After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate....
History: November 21 (#2)
November 21, 2019 Tesla launches the SUV Cybertruck. A gaffe occurs during the launch event when its "unbreakable" windows shatter during demonstration....
History: November 22 (#3)
November 22, 2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident: Shortly after takeoff, a DHL Express cargo plane is struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile and forced to land....
History: November 22 (#4)
November 22, 1994 A Trans World Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Cessna 441 Conquest II aircraft collide on the runway at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Bridgeton, Missouri, killing t...
History: November 23 (#2)
November 23, 2018 Founders of Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana issue an apology following a series of offensive advertisements on social media promoting a fashion show in Shanghai, China, which ...
History: November 25 (#5)
November 25, 1992 The Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from January 1, 1993....
History: November 27 (#3)
November 27, 2008 XL Airways Germany Flight 888T: An Airbus A320 performing a flight test crashes near the French commune of Canet-en-Roussillon, killing all seven people on board....
History: November 29 (#1)
November 29, 2025 The Government of Jordan officially announces the launch of the Amra City development project during a site visit by the Prime Minister....
History: December 1 (#2)
December 1, 2018 The Oulu Police informed the public about the first offence of the much larger child sexual exploitation in Oulu, Finland....
History: December 5 (#1)
December 5, 2017 The International Olympic Committee bans Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics for doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics....
History: December 7 (#4)
December 7, 2005 Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 924 who allegedly claimed to have a bomb, is shot and killed by a team of U.S. federal air marshals at Miami International ...
History: December 8 (#5)
December 8, 2004 The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations....
History: December 9 (#2)
December 9, 2017 The Marriage Amendment Bill receives royal assent and comes into effect, making Australia the 26th country to legalize same-sex marriage....
History: December 10 (#3)
December 10, 2016 Two explosions outside a football stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, kill 38 people and injure 166 others....
History: December 11 (#5)
December 11, 2009 Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment releases the hit mobile game Angry Birds internationally on iOS....
History: December 12 (#3)
December 12, 2001 Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conser...
History: December 15 (#4)
December 15, 2010 A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people....
History: December 16 (#5)
December 16, 2011 The Zhanaozen massacre occurs when violent protests by oil workers take place in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, resulting in security forces killing at least 14 and injuring 100 more....
History: December 20 (#3)
December 20, 2019 The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947....
History: December 20 (#4)
December 20, 2016 Aerosucre Flight 157 crashes during takeoff from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, killing five people....
History: December 24 (#5)
December 24, 1999 Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December ...
History: December 29 (#5)
December 29, 2013 Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher suffers a massive head injury while skiing in the French Alps....