WHAT ALL HAPPENED OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 1972
Find out what all happened October to December 1972

HBO launches its programming, with the broadcast of the 1971 movie Sometimes a Great Notion, starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. (8. November 1972)

Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham, Alabama is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro. (10. November 1972)

A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker. (11. October 1972)

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake strikes the Nicaraguan capital of Managua killing more than 10,000. (23. December 1972)

Vietnam War: Vietnamization – The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam. (11. November 1972)

Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission. (14. December 1972)

An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashes outside Moscow killing 174. (13. October 1972)

Japan Airlines Flight 472, operated Douglas DC-8-53 landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India. (24. December 1972)

Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ends after five months. (23. October 1972)

Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ron Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth. (19. December 1972)

Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon. (13. December 1972)

Vietnam War: In Saigon, Henry Kissinger and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu meet to discuss a proposed cease-fire that had been worked out between Americans and North Vietnamese in Paris. (22. October 1972)

Voters in South Korea overwhelmingly approve a new constitution, giving legitimacy to Park Chung-hee and the Fourth Republic. (21. November 1972)

United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. The crash is the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737. (8. December 1972)

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains, near the border between Argentina and Chile. By December 23, 1972, only 16 out of 45 people lived long enough to be rescued. (13. October 1972)

Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000. (30. November 1972)

Atari announces the release of Pong, the first commercially successful video game. (29. November 1972)

Vietnam War: The United States halts heavy bombing of North Vietnam. (30. December 1972)

A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago kills 45 and injures 332. (30. October 1972)

Kim Il-sung, already Prime Minister of North Korea and First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, becomes the first President of North Korea. (28. December 1972)