Did you know
The Space Shuttle program was carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 1981 to 2011.
November 12 in History
1981 — Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a crewed spacecraft is launched into space twice
November 12 spans 62 recorded events across recorded history, from 954 to 2022. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
62 events
954 – 2022
Today in history
More major events on November 12
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1941 World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to −12 °C (10 °F) as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city. Source
- 1912 First Balkan War: King George I of Greece makes a triumphal entry into Thessaloniki after its liberation from 482 years of Ottoman rule. Source
- 2011 Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the Euro area crisis. Source
Did you know
The program flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.
Did you know
The Space Transportation System (STS) plan was initially proposed in 1969 and included a nuclear lunar shuttle that was canceled in 1972.
Did you know
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA.
Did you know
The program's official name was Space Shuttle, with only the shuttle and supporting rockets being funded for development.
954
The 13-year-old Lothair III is crowned at the Abbey of Saint-Remi as king of the West Frankish Kingdom.
King of West Francia from 954 to 986
1028
Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros.
1330
Battle of Posada ends: Wallachian Voievode Basarab I defeats the Hungarian army by ambush.
1330 battle between Wallachian and Hungarian armies
1439
Plymouth becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
City and unitary authority in Devon, England
1835
Construction is completed on the Wilberforce Monument in Kingston Upon Hull.
Monument in Kingston Upon Hull, England
1892
Pudge Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
American football player and coach (1867–1954)
1893
Abdur Rahman Khan accepts the Durand Line as the border between the Emirate of Afghanistan and the British Raj.
Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901
1905
Norway holds a referendum resulting in popular approval of the Storting's decision to authorise the government to make the offer of the throne of the newly independent country.
1912
First Balkan War: King George I of Greece makes a triumphal entry into Thessaloniki after its liberation from 482 years of Ottoman rule.
1912–1913 war between the Balkan League and the Ottoman Empire
1912
The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
British Antarctic explorer (1868–1912)
1918
Dissolution of Austria-Hungary: Austria becomes a republic.
After the proclamation, a coup attempt by the communist Red Guard is defeated by the social-democratic Volkswehr.
1920
The 1920 Cork hunger strike by Irish republicans ends after three deaths.
Part of the Irish War of Independence
1920
Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
Yugoslavia from 1918 to 1941
1927
Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
Soviet politician and revolutionary (1879–1940)
1928
SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.
1912 ocean liner
1933
Nazi Germany uses a referendum to ratify its withdrawal from the League of Nations.
German state from 1933 to 1945
1936
In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
Complex of two bridges spanning San Francisco Bay
1938
Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy.
1940
World War II: The Battle of Gabon ends as Free French Forces take Libreville, Gabon, and all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy French forces.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1940
World War II: Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrives in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers.
Soviet politician and diplomat (1890–1986)
1941
World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to −12 °C (10 °F) as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
Country in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991
1941
World War II: The Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.
Soviet Admiral Nakhimov-class cruiser
1942
World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal.
The battle lasts for three days and ends with an American victory.
1944
World War II: The Royal Air Force sink the German battleship Tirpitz, moored off Tromsø, Norway.
Air and space warfare force of the United Kingdom
1948
Aftermath of World War II: In Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
Events after the end of the war in 1945
1956
In the midst of the Suez Crisis, Palestinian refugees are shot dead in Rafah by Israel Defense Force soldiers following the invasion of the Gaza Strip.
1956 British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt
1958
A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
American rock climber (1924–2002)
1961
Terry Jo Duperrault is the sole survivor of a series of brutal murders aboard the ketch Bluebelle.
Sailboat with a two-masted rig
1969
Vietnam War: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai Massacre.
1955–1975 war in Southeast Asia
1970
The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.
Department of the state government of Oregon, United States
1970
The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan, becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
North Indian Ocean cyclone
1971
Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, U.S.
President Richard Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
1971
Aeroflot Flight N-63 crashes on approach to Vinnytsia Airport, killing 48.
1971 plane crash in Ukraine
1975
1977
France conducts the Oreste nuclear test as 14th in the group of 29, 1975–78 French nuclear tests series.
Country primarily in Western Europe
1979
Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S.
President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
1980
The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
American space and aeronautics agency
1982
USSR: Yuri Andropov becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I.
Brezhnev.
1990
Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
Male heir to a throne
1990
Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
English computer scientist (born 1955)
1991
Santa Cruz massacre: The Indonesian Army open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
1991 massacre in Indonesian-occupied East Timor
1995
Erdut Agreement regarding the peaceful resolution to the Croatian War of Independence is reached.
1995 treaty ending the Croatian War of Independence
1995
Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-74 to deliver the Mir Docking Module to the Russian space station Mir.
Space Shuttle orbiter (1985–2011)
1996
A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349 in the deadliest mid-air collision to date.
National airline of Saudi Arabia
1997
Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Pakistani terrorist (born 1968)
1999
The 7.2 Mw Düzce earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).
At least 845 people are killed and almost 5,000 are injured.
2001
In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F.
Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
2001
War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
U.S Armed conflict in South Asia
2003
Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
2003–2011 conflict in Iraq
2003
Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record of 501 kilometres per hour (311 mph) for commercial railway systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
Railway line in Shanghai using magnetic levitation train
2011
Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the Euro area crisis.
Italian media tycoon and politician (1936–2023)
2011
A blast in Iran's Shahid Modarres missile base leads to the death of 17 of the Revolutionary Guards members, including Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile program.
2011 explosion in Tehran, Iran
2014
The Philae lander, deployed from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, reaches the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
Robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft
2014
An Armenian Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter is shot down by Azerbaijani forces, killing all three people on board.
Family of assault and attack helicopters
2015
Two suicide bombers detonate explosives in Bourj el-Barajneh, Beirut, killing 43 people and injuring over 200 others.
Violent tactic resulting in the attacker's intentional death
2017
The 7.3 Mw Kermanshah earthquake shakes the northern Iran–Iraq border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).
At least 410 people are killed and over 7,000 are injured.
2021
The Los Angeles Superior Court formally ends the 14-year conservatorship to pop singer Britney Spears.
Trial court in California
2022
A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra collide in mid-air over Dallas Executive Airport during an airshow, killing six.
American heavy bomber aircraft