WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO JUNE 1983
Find out what all happened April to 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)

Mona Mahmudnizhad together with nine other Bahá'í women, is sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran because of her Bahá'í Faith. (18. June 1983)

Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space (STS-6). (4. April 1983)

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

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

Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit. (25. April 1983)

A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people. (18. April 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 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)

First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier. (20. May 1983)

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

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

The Hitler diaries are revealed as a hoax after examination by experts. (6. May 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)

The Church Street bombing in the South African capital Pretoria. The bombing killed 19 and wounded 217. (20. May 1983)

Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize. (1. May 1983)

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

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

A strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 104 people and injures thousands. Many people go missing and thousands of buildings are destroyed. (26. May 1983)