Did you know
In 1975, India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
April 19 in History
1975 — India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia
April 19 spans 49 recorded events across recorded history, from 65 to 2021. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
49 events
65 – 2021
Today in history
More major events on April 19
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1942 World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp. Source
- 1971 Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station. Source
- 1925 Colo-Colo, the most successful and popular soccer football team in the South American nation of Chile, was founded at the El Llano Stadium in San Miguel, Santiago, by footballer David Arellano and some of his teammates who had also left the Deportes Magallanes club. Source
Did you know
Aryabhata was India's first satellite, named after the astronomer of the same name. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
It was launched on 19 April 1975 from Kapustin Yar, a Soviet rocket launch and development site in Astrakhan Oblast using a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
It was built by ISRO and launched by the Soviet Union as a part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme which provided access to space for friendly states. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.
Did you know
In 1975, India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.
The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all of the conspirators are arrested.
Calendar year
AD 65 (LXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nerva and Vestinus. The denomination AD 65 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
65
Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).
Battle of the Iberian War (531 AD)
The Battle of Callinicum took place on Easter Saturday, 19 April 531 AD, between an army of the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius and a Sasanian cavalry force commanded by Azarethes. After being defeated at the Battle of Dara, the Sasanians moved to invade Roman Syria in an attempt to turn the tide of the war. Belisarius' rapid response foiled the plan, and his troops pushed the Persians to the Syrian border through maneuvering before forcing a battle in which the Sasanians won a Pyrrhic victory.
531
Election of Pope John XIX following the death of his brother Pope Benedict VIII.
Head of the Catholic Church from 1024 to 1032
Pope John XIX, born Roman of Tusculum, was the Bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1024 to his death. He belonged to the family of the powerful Counts of Tusculum, succeeding his brother, Benedict VIII. Papal relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople soured during John XIX's pontificate. He was a supporter of Emperor Conrad II and patron of the musician Guido of Arezzo.
1024
Following the attempt of Byzantine Emperor Michael V Kalaphates to depose his wife and empress Zoe Porphyrogenita, a popular uprising in Constantinople breaks out with the intention to restore her.
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.
1042
The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which about two thousand Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity are slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.
1506 antisemitic riot in the Kingdom of Portugal
On 19 April 1506, a crowd of churchgoers in Lisbon attacked and killed several people in the congregation whom they suspected were Jews. The violence escalated into a city-wide, antisemitic riot that killed between 500 and 4,000 "New Christians", the name for Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity.
1506
Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protest the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.
16th-century movement in Western Christianity
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and the authority of the Catholic Church hierarchy. Towards the end of the Renaissance, the Reformation marked the beginning of Protestantism. It is considered one of the events that signified the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period in Europe.
1529
The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed.
Agreement between Protestants and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
The Treaty of Frankfurt, also known as the Truce of Frankfurt, was a formal agreement of peace between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Protestants on 19 April 1539. The parties met at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, and the Lutherans were represented by Philip Melanchthon. The treaty stated that the emperor would not take any violent actions against the Protestants, who had formed an alliance known as the Schmalkaldic League, for fifteen months starting 1 May; during this time both parties could try to resolve the differences in their confessions. As a result of this peace, the Schmalkaldic League lost the protection of France.
1539
England and France sign an alliance against Spain in the treaty of Blois.
Sovereign state in Europe before 1707
The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 927, when all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were united under the rule of Æthelstan, until 1 May 1707, when it relinquished its sovereignty along with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, which would later become the United Kingdom. The Kingdom of England was among the most powerful states in Europe during the medieval and early modern periods.
1572
In Ireland, O'Doherty's Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry.
Failed rebellion in 1608 in Ulster, Ireland
O'Doherty's Rebellion, also called O'Dogherty's Revolt, was an uprising against the Crown authorities in western Ulster, Ireland. Sir Cahir O'Doherty, lord of Inishowen, a Gaelic chieftain, had been a supporter of the Crown during the Nine Years' War (1593–1603), but angered at his treatment by Sir George Paulet, governor of Derry, he attacked and burned Derry in April 1608. O'Doherty was defeated and killed in the Battle of Kilmacrennan in July. The rebellion ended with the surrender of the last die-hards at the Siege of Tory Island later in the same year.
1608
The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.
Battle of the Franco-Dutch War
The siege of Cambrai took place from 20 March to 19 April 1677 during the 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War; then part of the Spanish Netherlands, it was invested by a French army under the duc de Luxembourg. Siege operations were supervised by the military engineer Vauban; Louis XIV was nominally in command but played little part in operations.
1677
With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa, was not born until 1717.
Holy Roman Emperor from 1711 to 1740
Charles VI was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain following the death of his relative Charles II of Spain. In 1708, he married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his four children: Leopold Johann, Maria Theresa, Maria Anna, and Maria Amalia.
1713
Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
British explorer and naval officer (1728–1779)
Captain James Cook was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer who led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand, and led the first recorded visit by Europeans to the east coast of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.
1770
Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI in a proxy wedding.
Queen of France from 1774 to 1792
Marie Antoinette was Queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI from 10 May 1774 until the abolition of the French monarchy in 1792 during the French Revolution.
1770
American Revolutionary War: The war begins during the Battles of Lexington and Concord with a victory of American minutemen and other militia over British forces, later referred to as the "shot heard round the world".
1775–1783 conflict in North America
The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.
1775
American Revolutionary War: Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Siege of Boston begins with American militias blocking land access to the British-held city.
1775–76 siege of the American Revolutionary War
The siege of Boston was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. In the siege, American patriot militia led by newly-installed Continental Army commander George Washington prevented the British Army, which was garrisoned in Boston, from moving by land. Both sides faced resource, supply, and personnel challenges during the siege. British resupply and reinforcement were limited to sea access, which was impeded by American vessels. The British ultimately abandoned Boston after eleven months, moving their troops and equipment north to Nova Scotia.
1775
John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government.
The house which he had purchased in The Hague becomes the first American embassy.
John Adams was a Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the Continental Congress of the United States as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with contemporaries, including his wife and advisor Abigail Adams and his friend and rival Thomas Jefferson.
1782
An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition.
On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
The Duchy of Warsaw was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnically Polish lands ceded to France by Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit, and was augmented in 1809 with territory ceded by Austria in the Treaty of Schönbrunn. It was the first attempt to re-establish Poland as a sovereign state after the 18th century partitions and covered the central and southeastern parts of present-day Poland.
1809
Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.
Country in South America
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and various islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises an area of 912,050 km2 (352,140 sq mi), with a population estimated at 31.8 million in 2025. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is Caracas. The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Colombia, on the south by Brazil, on the east by Guyana, and on the northeast by Trinidad and Tobago. Venezuela consists of 23 states, the Capital District, and the Federal Dependencies covering Venezuela's offshore islands. Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America, with an estimated urbanization rate of 88.4% in 2022. The vast majority of Venezuelans live in urban areas in the north, including in the capital.
1810
French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day).
The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.
Augustin-Jean Fresnel was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, fully supplanting Newton's corpuscular theory, from the late 1830s until the end of the 19th century. He is perhaps better known for inventing the catadioptric (reflective/refractive) Fresnel lens and for pioneering the use of "stepped" lenses to extend the visibility of lighthouses, saving countless lives at sea. The simpler dioptric stepped lens, first proposed by Count Buffon and independently reinvented by Fresnel, is used in screen magnifiers and in condenser lenses for overhead projectors.
1818
The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.
Treaty over Belgium and Luxembourg
The Treaty of London of 1839, was signed on 19 April 1839 between the major European powers, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Kingdom of Belgium. It was a direct follow-up to the 1831 Treaty of the XVIII Articles, which the Netherlands had refused to sign, and the result of negotiations at the London Conference of 1838–1839 which sought to maintain the Concert of Europe.
1839
American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States. The South saw slavery as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.
1861
The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.
Anti-Jewish attack in Kishinev, Russian Empire (19–21 April 1903)
The Kishinev pogrom or Kishinev massacre was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Kishinev, then the capital of the Bessarabia Governorate in the Russian Empire, on 19–21 April [O.S. 6–8 April] 1903. During the pogrom, which began on Easter Day, between 40 and 49 Jews were killed, 92 were gravely injured, over 500 were lightly injured and 1,500 homes were damaged. American Jews began large-scale organized financial help, and assisted in emigration. The incident focused worldwide attention on the persecution of Jews within the Russian Empire, and led Theodor Herzl to propose the Uganda Scheme as a temporary refuge for the Jews. A second pogrom erupted in the city in October 1905.
1903
Colo-Colo, the most successful and popular soccer football team in the South American nation of Chile, was founded at the El Llano Stadium in San Miguel, Santiago, by footballer David Arellano and some of his teammates who had also left the Deportes Magallanes club.
Chilean football club based in Macul, Santiago
Colo-Colo, officially Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo, is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano, it competes in the Chilean Primera División, from which the club has never been relegated. The team has played its home games at Estadio Monumental David Arellano since 1989. Colo-Colo is regarded as the most successful club in Chilean football.
1925
Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
American actress (1893–1980)
Mary Jane "Mae" West was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known for portraying sexually confident characters and for her use of double entendres, often delivering her lines in a distinctive contralto voice. West began performing in vaudeville and on stage in New York City before moving on to film in Los Angeles.
1927
The Jaffa riots commence, initiating the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.
Violent anti-Jewish riots perpetrated by Arabs in Mandatory Palestine
In the context of mass Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine, violent attacks against British colonial installations and Jews of the Yishuv broke out in Jaffa on 19 April 1936. These attacks are often described as the start of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. A total of 14 Jews and 2 Arabs were killed during the riots, and the conflict led to the British destruction of over one hundred of buildings in the Old City of Jaffa—about a fifth of the Old City of Jaffa—creating internally displaced Palestinian Arab refugees.
1936
World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
1942
World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
Jewish insurgency against Nazi Germany in German-occupied Poland during World War II
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an uprising by the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the Majdanek and Treblinka extermination camps in 1943. It was the largest single revolt by Jews against the Nazis during World War II.
1943
Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
American actress, Princess of Monaco from 1956 to 1982
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956 until her death in 1982. Prior to her marriage, she achieved stardom in several significant Hollywood films in the early to mid-1950s. She received an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, and was ranked 13th on the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Female Stars list.
1956
Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
1960 South Korean protests
The April Revolution, also called the April 19 Revolution or April 19 Movement, were mass protests in South Korea against President Syngman Rhee and the First Republic from April 11 to 26, 1960, which led to Rhee's resignation.
1960
Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
Country in West Africa
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the west coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is 73,252 km2 (28,283 sq mi). It has a tropical climate and environments ranging from savannahs to rainforests. As of the 2023 census, Sierra Leone had a population of 8,460,512. Freetown is its capital and largest city.
1971
Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
Soviet space station (1971)
Salyut 1, also known as DOS-1, was the world's first space station. It was launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The Salyut program subsequently achieved five more successful launches of seven additional stations. The program's final module, Zvezda (DOS-8), became the core of the Russian Orbital Segment of the International Space Station and remains in orbit today.
1971
Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.
American criminal and cult leader (1934–2017)
Charles Milles Manson was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who was the founder of the Manson Family. He gained notoriety for ordering the Tate–LaBianca murders, where his followers murdered nine people around Los Angeles in 1969.
1971
The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.
Centre-left political party in Portugal
The Socialist Party is a social democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel by militants who were at the time with the Portuguese Socialist Action. The PS is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists, and has eight members in the European Parliament within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group during the 10th European Parliament.
1973
South Vietnamese forces withdraw from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War.
Defunct South Vietnamese ground forces
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forces of the Vietnamese National Army, established on 8 December 1950, representing Vietnam to fight in the First Indochina War against the communist Viet Minh rebels. At the ARVN's peak, an estimated 1 in 9 citizens of South Vietnam were enlisted, composed of Regular Forces and the more voluntary Regional Forces and the Popular Force militias. It is estimated to have suffered 1,394,000 casualties during the Vietnam War.
1975
A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people.
Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado and survived uninjured.
During the evening of April 19, 1976, a violent tornado struck Brownwood, Texas, United States. The damage caused by the tornado was extreme enough for the National Weather Service to rate the tornado F5 on the Fujita scale. In 1993, meteorologist Thomas P. Grazulis disagreed with the National Weather Service's assessment of the tornado, which he assigned a maximum rating of F4 on the Fujita scale.
1976
Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
U.S. law enforcement agency
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention of federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms and explosives; acts of arson and bombings; and illegal trafficking and tax evasion of alcohol and tobacco products.
1985
A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
Rotatable weapon mount
A gun turret is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in some degree of azimuth and elevation.
1989
The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, US, ends when a fire breaks out.
Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the siege by US federal government and Texas state law enforcement officials of a compound belonging to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians, between February 28 and April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh, were headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, 13 miles northeast of Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh and several of the group's members.
1993
Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, US, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
On April 19, 1995, American anti-government extremist Timothy McVeigh, assisted by Terry Nichols, detonated a makeshift bomb stored in a rental truck parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in an act of domestic terrorism. The explosion killed 167 people, injured 684, and destroyed more than a third of the building. The attack also destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings, destroyed 86 vehicles and caused an estimated $652 million in damage. During rescue operations after the bombing, a rescue worker was killed after being struck on the head by falling debris, bringing the total death toll to 168.
1995
The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
Federal parliament of Germany
The Bundestag is the federal parliament of Germany. It is the only constitutional body in the country directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany, the other being the Bundesrat.
1999
Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.
2000 aviation accident in the Philippines
Air Philippines Flight 541 was a scheduled domestic flight operated by Air Philippines from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila to Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City. On April 19, 2000, the Boeing 737-200 crashed south of Davao City while on approach to the airport, killing all 124 passengers and 7 crew members. It remains the deadliest air disaster in the Philippines, surpassing the 1998 crash of Cebu Pacific Flight 387, and the third-deadliest accident involving the Boeing 737-200, after Mandala Airlines Flight 091, and Indian Airlines Flight 113.
2000
Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-100 carrying the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle orbiter (1992–2011)
Space Shuttle Endeavour is a retired orbiter from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and final mission, STS-134, in May 2011. STS-134 was expected to be the final mission of the Space Shuttle program, but with the authorization of STS-135 by the United States Congress, Atlantis became the last shuttle to fly.
2001
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
A conclave was held on 18 and 19 April 2005 to elect a new pope to succeed John Paul II, who had died on 2 April 2005. Of the 117 eligible cardinal electors, all but two attended. On the fourth ballot, the conclave elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. After accepting his election, he took the name Benedict XVI. Ratzinger was the first cardinal from the Roman Curia to become pope since Pius XII in 1939.
2005
The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire in Quito, Ecuador, kills 19 people and injures at least 24 more.
2008 fire in Ecuador
The Quito Ultratumba nightclub fire was a fire that occurred on April 19, 2008, at the Factory nightclub in Quito, Ecuador, during the gothic rock concert Ultratumba 2008. A pyrotechnics accident during the show by Vendimia ignited a fire leading to the entire building burning. Of the over 300 people present, between both musicians and attendees, nineteen were killed with at least twenty-four injured. Among the deceased were five of the seven members of the gothic rock band Zelestial, which was scheduled to be honored at the event.
2008
Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
Leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2011
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban communist revolutionary and statesman who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2011. He served as prime minister from 1959 to 1976, president from 1976 to 2008, and first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 until 2011. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, under his administration Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.
2011
Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police.
His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.
The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during the 117th annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs that detonated near the finish line of the race 14 seconds and 210 yards (190 m) apart. Three people were killed and hundreds injured, including 12 victims who lost limbs.
2013
A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history.
Series of murders in Canada
On April 18 and 19, 2020, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings and set fires at 16 locations in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people, and injuring three others before he was shot and killed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the community of Enfield. The attacks are the deadliest shooting rampage in Canadian history.
2020
The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet.
Retired NASA helicopter on the Mars 2020 mission
Ingenuity, nicknamed Ginny, is an autonomous helicopter that operated on Mars from 2021 to 2024 as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission. Ingenuity made its first flight on 19 April 2021, demonstrating that flight is possible in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars, and became the first aircraft to conduct a powered and controlled extraterrestrial flight. It was designed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with AeroVironment, NASA's Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center with components supplied by Lockheed Martin Space, Qualcomm, and SolAero.
2021