WHAT ALL HAPPENED MARCH TO AUGUST 1983
Find out what all happened March to August 1983

After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place. (2. June 1983)

Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba. (23. July 1983)

In Ireland, the government launches a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air. (18. May 1983)

A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashes into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board. (1. July 1983)

Space Shuttle program: STS-7, Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space. (18. June 1983)

U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls the Soviet Union an "evil empire". (8. March 1983)

Pakistan successfully conducts a cold test of a nuclear weapon. (11. March 1983)

The first United States Football League game is played. (6. March 1983)

Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space (STS-6). (4. April 1983)

Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government. (16. May 1983)

First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier. (20. May 1983)

Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the central Solar System when it passes beyond the orbit of Neptune (the furthest planet from the Sun at the time). (13. June 1983)

Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. (23. March 1983)

During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk. (7. April 1983)

American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. (25. April 1983)

Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last wooden radio tower in Germany. (16. March 1983)

Black July: 37 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners. (25. July 1983)

The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (24. July 1983)

Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars). (18. August 1983)

Cold War: Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov. (7. July 1983)