Did you know
In 1979, The first Ariane 1 rocket is launched from ELA-1 at the Guiana Space Centre. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
December 24 in History
1979 — The first Ariane 1 rocket is launched from ELA-1 at the Guiana Space Centre
December 24 spans 56 recorded events across recorded history, from 502 to 2021. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
56 events
502 – 2021
Today in history
More major events on December 24
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1968 Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis. Source
- 1939 World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. Source
- 1814 Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. Source
Did you know
The Guiana Space Centre, also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an overseas region of France in South America. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres north of the equator at a latitude of 5°. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
In operation since 1968, it is a suitable location for a spaceport because of its near equatorial location and open sea to the east and north. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.
Did you know
In 1979, The first Ariane 1 rocket is launched from ELA-1 at the Guiana Space Centre 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.
640
Pope John IV is elected, several months after his predecessor's death.
Head of the Catholic Church from 640 to 642
759
Tang dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di.
Imperial dynasty of China (618–907)
971
Battle of Ayn Shams: The Fatimids under Jawhar defeat the Qarmatians at the gates of Cairo, putting an end to the First Qarmatian invasion of Egypt.
1144
The capital of the crusader County of Edessa falls to Imad ad-Din Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo.
Religious wars of the High Middle Ages
1500
A joint Venetian–Spanish fleet captures the Castle of St.
George on the island of Cephalonia.
1737
The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.
1674–1818 empire in the Indian subcontinent
1777
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
Coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, Kiribati
1800
The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.
1800 assassination attempt on Napoleon
1814
Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
Country in northwestern Europe
1818
The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf, Austria.
1818 Christmas carol
1826
The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.
1826 cadet riot at the United States Military Academy
1846
British acquired Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei for Great Britain.
British colony in Asia from 1848 to 1946
1865
Former Confederate officers Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J.
Calvin Jones, and James Crowe form the Ku Klux Klan.
1868
The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.
Ceremonial guards
1906
Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
Canadian-American electrical engineer and inventor (1866–1932)
1913
The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 striking workers families at a Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire".
1913 human crush in Calumet, Michigan, US
1918
Region of Međimurje is captured by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Hungary.
Post-World War I conflict in Hungary
1920
Gabriele D'Annunzio surrendered the Italian Regency of Carnaro in the city of Fiume to Italian Armed Forces.
Italian writer (1863–1938)
1929
Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
Country in South America
1929
A four alarm fire breaks out in the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C.
Structure part of the White House complex
1939
World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1941
World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
City and state capital in Sarawak, Malaysia
1941
World War II: Benghazi is conquered by the British Eighth Army.
City in Cyrenaica, Libya
1942
World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria.
Efforts to restore the monarchy following its 19th century abolution
1943
World War II: U.S.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for Operation Overlord.
1944
World War II: The Belgian Troopship Leopoldville was torpedoed and sank with the loss of 763 soldiers and 56 crew.
Belgian ocean liner converted into an Allied troop ship during WWII
1945
Five of nine children become missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down.
1945 US missing-persons case
1952
First flight of Britain's Handley Page Victor strategic bomber.
British strategic bomber and tanker aircraft
1953
Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge is damaged by a lahar and collapses beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people.
1953 railway accident in New Zealand
1955
A flood devastates California, killing 74 people across portions of the state.
1955 flood in California, U.S.
1964
Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.
1955–1975 war in Southeast Asia
1964
Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 crashes after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, killing three.
1964 aviation accident
1966
A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 111.
Canadian turboprop airliner (1950s–60s)
1968
Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so.
They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.
1968
Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 crashes on approach to Bradford Regional Airport, killing 20.
1968 aviation accident
1969
Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.
Capital city of Abia State, Nigeria
1971
LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lightning and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91.
1971 aviation accident in Peru
1973
District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C.
to elect their own local government.
1983
Aeroflot Flight 601 crashes during takeoff from Leshukonskoye Airport, Russia, killing 44 of the 49 people on board.
1983 aviation accident
1994
Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria.
Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.
1996
A Learjet 35 crashes into Smarts Mountain near Dorchester, New Hampshire, killing both pilots on board.
Executive business jet series
1997
The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people.
1997 mass killings near Tiaret, Algeria
1999
Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India.
The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).
2003
The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m.
inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
2005
Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of belligerence against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.
Bilateral relations
2008
The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
Christian extremist organization in Africa
2018
A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor.
Accident that killed the Governor of Puebla, Mexico
2021
Burmese military forces commit the Mo So massacre, killing at least 44 civilians.
Combined military forces of Myanmar