When Mir is launched on Feb. 20, 1986, Andrei Gromyko is president of the Soviet Union and Mikhael Gorbachev is secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
President Reagan is well into the second term of his presidency.
An accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine occurs two months later, causing thousands of short-term deaths and environmental pollution.
Also that year:
Space Shuttle Challenger explodes on Jan. 20, 1986, killing all seven aboard.
Comet Halley revisits Earth.
Voyager arrives at Uranus in January 1986.
The Statue of Liberty is showered with fireworks to celebrate her 100th birthday.
Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeagar make the first nonstop flight without refueling around the world.
Titan, Delta and Ariane rockets experience failures (along with Challenger), causing at least one major news magazine to wonder if humans could handle technology.
An international committee examines the work of two groups studying a virus initially associated with a wasting disease ravaging gay men in New York City and San Francisco, naming it Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV.
Out of Africa wins best picture at the 1986 Academy Awards ceremony.
Tom Cruise stars in the feature film Top Gun.
The feature film Aliens is released.
The Smiths release their album, The Queen is Dead.
Elie Wiesel receives the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.
Fernando Marcos is re-elected president of the Philippines, a victory widely attributed to massive voting fraud on the part of his supporters. Five days after Mir was launched, as popular unrest grows, Marcos flees the country at the urging of the U.S.
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson are married and become the Duke and Duchess of York.
James Cagney, Desi Arnez, L. Ron Hubbard, Ted Knight and Donna Reed die.
The New York Mets win the World Series.
The Chicago Bears, boasting William "Refrigerator" Perry and coach Mike Ditka, win the Super Bowl.
The Montreal Canadiens, with eight rookies on the ice and one coaching, gain their 23rd National Hockey League championship.
Fuji introduces the disposable camera.
Nintendo debuts its electronic games.
The United States bombs Tripoli, the capital of Libya, after terrorist groups attack a West Berlin disco.
A prominent nonviolent fighter against apartheid, Desmond Tutu, becomes archibishop of Cape Town, South Africa.
It is discovered that the U.S. is selling arms to Iran during the latter's war with Iraq and using the profits to fund anti-Sandinista Contra forces in Nicaragua. Congress proceeds to investigate the "Iran-Contra affair."
Ivan Boesky and Dennis Levine plead guilty to insider trading after using non-public information in financial transactions.
The Dow Industrials open the year at 1,546 and close at 1,895.
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