WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO FEBRUARY 1986
Find out what all happened January to February 1986

Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 kilometres (50,600 mi) of Uranus. (24. January 1986)

The Hinton train collision: 23 people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a 118-car Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, west of Edmonton. It is the worst rail accident in Canada until the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec derailment in 2013 which killed forty-seven people. (8. February 1986)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time. (20. January 1986)

The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. (16. February 1986)

Aruba becomes independent of Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the Netherlands. (1. January 1986)

Olof Palme, prime minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm. (28. February 1986)

The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni. (26. January 1986)

Spain and Portugal are admitted into the European Community. (1. January 1986)

A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties. (13. January 1986)

The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda. (25. January 1986)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. (23. January 1986)

Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff killing all seven astronauts on board. (28. January 1986)

The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis. (27. February 1986)

Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers the eastern province of Sri Lanka. (19. February 1986)

Space Shuttle program: Congressman Bill Nelson lifts off from Kennedy Space Center aboard Columbia on mission STS-61-C as a Mission Specialist. (12. January 1986)

Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines. (22. February 1986)

The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for 10 of those years. (20. February 1986)

The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened. (11. January 1986)

The Legend of Zelda, the first game of The Legend of Zelda series, was released in Japan on the Famicom Disk System. (21. February 1986)

The first IBM PC computer virus is released into the wild. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter piracy of the software they had written. (19. January 1986)