January 28
Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members, including an elementary school teacher.

January 1
Spain and Portugal join European Economic Community.

January 8
President Reagan freezes Libyan assets in US.

January 14
Supreme Court bans racial bias in trial jury selection.

January 26
Voyager 2 spacecraft reports secrets of Uranus

February 7
Corrupt, hated Haiti president Jean-Claude Duvalier aka "Baby Doc" flees to France.

February 26
President Marcos flees Philippines after ruling 20 years, as newly elected Corazon Aquino (right) succeeds him. Aquino is the widow of martyred Philippines politician Benigno S. Aquino.

February 28
Prime Minister Olof Palme of Sweden is shot dead.

March 3
Austrian president Kurt Waldheim's service as Nazi army officer is revealed.

April 14
US planes attack Libyan terrorist centers.

April 14
Desmond Tutu (left) is elected archbishop in South Africa.

April 26
Major nuclear accident at Soviet Union's Chernobyl power station alarms world.

June 4
Ex-Navy analyst, Jonathan Jay Pollard, 31, is found guilty as spy for Israel

July 24
Jerry A. Whitworth, ex-Navy radioman, is convicted as a Soviet spy. He is also part of Walker family spy ring.

July 26
Muslim captors release Reverend Lawrence Martin Jenco.

August 14
William H. Rehnquist (right) is approved by the US Senate as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

November 4
Democrats gain eight seats to win Senate majority

November 6
Secret initiative to send arms to Iran is revealed. It’s the beginning of the Arms for Hostages scandal.

November 25
President Reagan denies exchanging arms for hostages and halts arms sales.  Scandal widens as a diversion of funds from Iranian arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contras is revealed.

December 14-23
Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager make the first nonstop flight around the world without refueling.

ALSO IN 1986:
The Academic American Encyclopedia is available on CD-ROM. It is the first reference work published in this new medium...  The Voyager flies around the globe (a total of 24,986 miles) from Edwards Air Force Base, in California, returning in 216 hours, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds... The first genetically-engineered vaccine, for hepatitis B, gains FDA approval... The Voyager 2 probe passes Uranus (left) in January, returning images and data on its moon, rings, atmosphere, interior, and magnetic field.
 

In Sports
Super Bowl Chicago Bears maul the New England Patriots (46-10)... Always a bridesmaid, but never the bride: in the World Series, the NY Mets take the Boston Red Sox (4-3)... NBA Championship Boston Celtics beat Houston Rockets (4-2)... The men of Penn State are the NCAA Football Champions with a 12-zip-zip record... In soccer's World Cup, Argentina defeats West Germany (3-2).

What's on TV
In Couch Potato News: Barry Diller creates Fox (the fourth television network), with just 10 hours of prime-time programming per week, to start... The Television Bureau of Advertising announces that the average American household watches television for more than seven hours a day... The Oprah Winfrey Show hits national television... Nintendo video games are introduced in the US... Amen and Matlock are two new shows this year.

That's Show Biz
Movies this year include the hard hitting Platoon, plus Hannah and Her Sisters, The Color of Money, and The Mission.

Deaths
Olof Palme (Swedish politician), assassinated
Georgia O'Keeffe, painter
Harold Macmillan, British politician and former Prime Minister (right)
Wallace Simpson aka Duchess of Windsor, wife of disgraced former King of England