WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO JUNE 1983
Find out what all happened February to June 1983

A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people. (13. February 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)

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

Partial collapse of Connecticut's busy I-95 Mianus River Bridge, killing three. (28. June 1983)

100 women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law. (12. February 1983)

The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night. (8. February 1983)

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

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

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

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

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri. (23. February 1983)

A special commission of the U.S. Congress releases a report that condemns the practice of Japanese internment during World War II. (24. February 1983)

The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. (17. May 1983)

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

The German magazine Der Stern claims that the "Hitler Diaries" had been found in wreckage in East Germany; the diaries are subsequently revealed to be forgeries. (22. April 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)

Aberdeen F.C. defeat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden. (11. May 1983)

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

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