Did you know
In 2015, The JAXA probe Akatsuki successfully enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.
December 7 in History
2015 — The JAXA probe Akatsuki successfully enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt
December 7 spans 45 recorded events across recorded history, from 43 BC to 2025. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
45 events
43 BC – 2025
Today in history
More major events on December 7
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1842 First concert of the New York Philharmonic, founded by Ureli Corelli Hill. Source
- 1787 Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution. Source
- 1995 The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34. Source
Did you know
Akatsuki , also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO) and Planet-C, was a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) space probe tasked with studying the atmosphere of Venus. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.
Did you know
It was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on 20 May 2010, but failed to enter orbit around Venus on 6 December 2010. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.
Did you know
After the craft orbited the Sun for five years, engineers successfully placed it into an alternate Venusian elliptic orbit on 7 December 2015 by firing its attitude control thrusters for 20 minutes, making it the first Japanese satellite to orbit Venus. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.
Did you know
In 2015, The JAXA probe Akatsuki successfully enters orbit around Venus five years after the first attempt 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.
-43
Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated in Formia on orders of Marcus Antonius.
Roman statesman and lawyer (106–43 BC)
574
Byzantine Emperor Justin II, suffering recurring seizures of insanity, adopts his general Tiberius and proclaims him as Caesar.
Roman emperor from 565 to 578
927
The Sajid emir of Adharbayjan, Yusuf ibn Abi'l-Saj is defeated and captured by the Qarmatians near Kufa.
889–929 Iranian Muslim dynasty of Azerbaijan and Armenia
1703
The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall.
Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.
1724
Tumult of Thorn: Religious unrest is followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Toruń) by Polish authorities.
Religious conflict in Royal Prussia in 1724
1732
The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London, England.
Performing arts venue in London, England
1776
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arranges to enter the American military as a major general.
French military officer and politician (1757–1834)
1787
Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.
U.S. state
1837
The Battle of Montgomery's Tavern, the only battle of the Upper Canada Rebellion, takes place in Toronto, where the rebels are quickly defeated.
1837 battle of the Upper Canada Rebellion
1842
First concert of the New York Philharmonic, founded by Ureli Corelli Hill.
American symphony orchestra
1904
Comparative fuel trials begin between warships HMS Spiteful and HMS Peterel: Spiteful was the first warship powered solely by fuel oil, and the trials led to the obsolescence of coal in ships of the Royal Navy.
Ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare
1917
World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
Global conflict from 1914 to 1918
1922
The Parliament of Northern Ireland votes to remain a part of the United Kingdom and not unify with Southern Ireland.
Bicameral legislature of Northern Ireland (1921–1972)
1930
W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts telecasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers.
The telecast also includes the first television advertisement in the United States, for I.J. Fox Furriers, which also sponsored the radio show.
1932
German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
Scientist specializing in the field of physics
1936
Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton becomes the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.
Team sport played with a bat and ball
1941
World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
(For Japan's near-simultaneous attacks on Eastern Hemisphere targets, see December 8.)
1942
World War II: British commandos conduct Operation Frankton, a raid on shipping in Bordeaux harbour.
1942 British raid in Bordeaux, France during World War II
1944
An earthquake along the coast of Wakayama Prefecture in Japan causes a tsunami which kills 1,223 people.
Earthquake and tsunami affecting southern Japan
1946
A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia kills 119 people, the deadliest hotel fire in U.S.
history.
1949
Chinese Civil War: The Government of the Republic of China moves from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan.
1927–1949 civil war in China
1962
Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his power to advisory and legislative councils.
Prince of Monaco from 1949 to 2005
1963
Instant replay makes its debut during the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Video reproduction of an earlier live occurrence during an event
1965
Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously revoke mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.
Head of the Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978
1971
The Battle of Sylhet is fought between the Pakistani military and the Indian Army.
Part of the Bangladesh Liberation War
1971
Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces the formation of a coalition government with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Deputy Prime Minister.
Country in South Asia
1972
Apollo 17, the last Apollo Moon mission, is launched.
The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.
1982
In Texas, Charles Brooks Jr., becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.
U.S. state
1982
The Senior Road Tower collapses in less than 17 seconds.
Five workers on the tower are killed and three workers on a building nearby are injured.
1983
An Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 collides with an Aviaco DC-9 in dense fog while the two airliners are taxiing down the runway at Madrid–Barajas Airport, killing 93 people.
National airline of Spain
1987
Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771, a British Aerospace 146-200A, crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss traveling on the flight, then shoots both pilots and steers the plane into the ground.
1987 aircraft hijacking and crash in California
1988
The 6.8 Ms Armenian earthquake shakes the northern part of the country with a maximum MSK intensity of X (Devastating), killing 25,000–50,000 and injuring 31,000–130,000.
Devastating earthquake in Armenian SSR, USSR
1993
Long Island Rail Road shooting: Passenger Colin Ferguson murders six people and injures 19 others on the LIRR in Nassau County, New York.
Shooting in Garden City Park, New York, US
1995
The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.
First NASA mission to orbit Jupiter (1989–2003)
1995
Khabarovsk United Air Group Flight 3949 crashes into the Bo-Dzhausa Mountain, killing 98.
1995 aviation accident
1995
An Air Saint Martin (now Air Caraïbes) Beechcraft 1900 crashes near the Haitian commune of Belle Anse, killing 20.
French Caribbean regional airline
2003
The Conservative Party of Canada is officially registered, following the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
Federal political party in Canada
2005
Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 924 who allegedly claimed to have a bomb, is shot and killed by a team of U.S.
federal air marshals at Miami International Airport.
2014
The annual furry convention Midwest FurFest is targeted in an unsolved chlorine gas attack.
Formal gathering of members of the furry fandom
2016
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 661, a domestic passenger flight from Chitral to Islamabad, operated by an ATR-42-500 crashes near Havelian, killing all 47 on board.
Aviation accident in Havelian, Pakistan
2017
Aztec High School shooting: William Atchison kills two students at his former high school.
School shooting in Aztec, New Mexico
2024
Battle of Damascus (2024): Syrian opposition forces enter the Rif Dimashq Governorate, reaching within 20 km of the capital Damascus.
2024 event in the Syrian civil war
2025
British racing driver Lando Norris wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 2025 with McLaren.
British racing driver (born 1999)
