WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO DECEMBER 1979
Find out what all happened February to December 1979

A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history. (10. November 1979)

Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to visit Ireland. (29. September 1979)

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom. (27. October 1979)

The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers. (17. March 1979)

South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa). (13. September 1979)

White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. (21. May 1979)

The Ghost Train Fire at Luna Park Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) kills seven. (9. June 1979)

American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground. (25. May 1979)

Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters. (5. March 1979)

In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising. (5. August 1979)

The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat in Grenada. (13. March 1979)

Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility. (30. March 1979)

The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi). (1. September 1979)

Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered. (7. February 1979)

Black Monday in Malta. The Building of the Times of Malta, the residence of the opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami and several Nationalist Party clubs are ransacked and destroyed by supporters of the Malta Labour Party. (15. October 1979)

Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from Pakistani special forces to put down the uprising. (20. November 1979)

Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. (2. June 1979)

Nuclear false alarm: the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland detected purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early warning radars, the alert is cancelled. (9. November 1979)

Don Dunstan resigns as Premier of South Australia, ending a decade of sweeping social liberalisation. (15. February 1979)

Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki is assassinated upon the order of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes the new president. (14. September 1979)