On This Day: 8 June

8 June in world history

• 2007Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-117 carrying two truss segments and solar arrays to the International Space Station.
• 1995Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
• 1987New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
• 1983Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 loses one of its propellers in flight resulting in damage to the flight controls. The Lockheed L-188 Electra makes an emergency landing at Anchorage International Airport and there are no injuries.
• 1982Falklands War: The Argentine Air Force attacked British transport ships while unloading supplies off Bluff Cove in the Falkland Islands, killing 56 British servicemen and wounding 150 others.
• 1972Vietnam War: Associated Press photographer Nick Ut took a Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph of a naked nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc fleeing after being burned by napalm.
• 1967Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident: A United States Navy spy ship is attacked by the Israeli Air Force and Navy, resulting in 34 deaths and 171 wounded.
• 1966An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed.
• 1953An F5 tornado struck Flint and Beecher, Michigan, causing 116 fatalities, 844 injuries and $19 million in damage during a larger tornado outbreak sequence.
• 1941World War II: The Allies commenced the Syria–Lebanon campaign against Vichy French possessions in the Levant.
• 1940World War II: The completion of Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Narvik at the end of the Norwegian campaign.
• 1928Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Beijing, whose name is changed to Beiping ("Northern Peace").
• 1924British Mount Everest expedition: British mountaineers Andrew Irvine and George Mallory go missing.
• 1862American Civil War: The Confederate Army won a resounding victory at the Battle of Cross Keys, one of the two decisive battles in Jackson's Valley campaign.
• 1856A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, arrives at Norfolk Island, commencing the Third Settlement of the Island.
• 1826In York, Upper Canada, members of the Family Compact destroyed William Lyon Mackenzie's printing press in the Types Riot after Mackenzie accused them of corruption.
• 1783Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
• 1776American Revolutionary War: British forces defeated the Continental Army at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, the last battle of the American invasion of Quebec.

Born on 8 June

• 1961Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist
• 1957Dimple Kapadia, Indian actressIndia
• 1925Barbara Bush, American wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States (died 2018)
• 1915Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (died 2015)India
• 1903Ralph Yarborough, American lawyer and politician (died 1996)
• 1867Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (died 1959)

Died on 8 June

• 2024Ramoji Rao, Indian businessman, media proprietor and film producer (born 1936)India
• 2024Chet Walker, American basketball player (born 1940)
• 1714Sophia of Hanover, German nobility, ancestress of all British Monarchs since 1714 (born 1630)
• 1154William of York, English archbishop and saint

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 8 June in history?

2007: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-117 carrying two truss segments and solar arrays to the International Space Station. 1995: Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia. 1987: New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987. 1983: Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 loses one of its propellers in flight resulting in damage to the flight controls. The Lockheed L-188 Electra makes an emergency landing at Anchorage International Airport and there are no injuries.

Which famous people were born on 8 June?

Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist (1961); Dimple Kapadia, Indian actress (1957); Barbara Bush, American wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States (died 2018) (1925); Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (died 2015) (1915).

Which day is observed on 8 June?

World Oceans Day; First Indochina War day (France); Bounty Day (Norfolk Island); Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day; Engineer's Day (Peru).