1980-2001

By MalachiWindschitl

  • The Mt. St. Helens volcano

    in Washington State, erupts, killing fifty-seven people and economic devastation to the area with losses near $3 billion.

  • The first launch of the Space Shuttle

    from Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center occurs as Columbia begins its STS-1 mission. The Space Shuttle is the first reusable spacecraft to be flown into orbit, and it returned to earth for a traditional touch down landing two days later.

  • The first version of the Windows

    operating system for computers is released.

  • The Hubble Telescope

    is placed into orbit by the United States Space Shuttle Discovery. One month later, the telescope becomes operational.

  • Bush's Treaty

    U.S. President George H.W. Bush and his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to eliminate chemical weapon production and begin the destruction of each nation's current inventory.

  • Cruise Missile Attack

    President Bill Clinton orders a cruise missile attack on the Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, responding to the attempted assassination attempt cultivated by the Iraq Secret Service on former U.S. President George H.W. Bush during his visit to Kuwait two months before.

  • The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

    goes into effect, creating a free trade zone between Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

  • The World Trade Organization (WTO) is created

    replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) formed from a series of post-war treaties on trade.

  • 9/11 happens

    Islamic fundamentalist terrorists hijack four U.S. airliners and crash them into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City. The attack of two planes levels the World Trade Center and the crash of one plane inflicts serious damage to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, causing nearly 3,000 deaths. The fourth plane is heroically crashed by passengers into a Shanksville, Pennsylvania cornfield.

  • In response to the tragedy of September 11

    the United States military, with participation from its ally the United Kingdom, commence the first attack in the War on Terrorism on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.