WHAT ALL HAPPENED JUNE TO AUGUST 2002
Find out what all happened June to August 2002

At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5million (US$76.2 million) to Lord Thomson. (10. July 2002)

Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa (26. August 2002)

Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground. (28. July 2002)

Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress. (11. June 2002)

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon. (2. July 2002)

A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering. (20. August 2002)

Eastern Mediterranean Event. A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 meters in diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The resulting explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb. (6. June 2002)

Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collide in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing 71. (1. July 2002)

French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations. (14. July 2002)

Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel. (29. June 2002)

Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. (14. June 2002)

The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom. (10. June 2002)

The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. (13. June 2002)

The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. (1. July 2002)

Ukraine airshow disaster: a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history. (27. July 2002)

"American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. (15. July 2002)

Soham murders: 10-year-old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. (4. August 2002)

Two 14-year-old South Korean girls are struck and killed by a United States Army armored vehicle, leading to months of public protests against the US. (13. June 2002)

The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history. (24. June 2002)

An earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw strikes a region of northwestern Iran killing at least 261 people and injuring 1,300 others and eventually causing widespread public anger due to the slow official response. (22. June 2002)