Near Miss Day happened in 1989. The Apollo asteroid 4581 Asclepius, the size of a mountain, came within 500,000 miles of earth. If the meteor had hit the earth, the impact would have left a crater the size of Washington, DC. Children can learn more about meteors in general at: Meteors.
Oil Clean Up after Valdez
Exxon Valdez in 1989 spilled about 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska. The spill damaged 1,300 miles of shoreline and killed huge numbers of fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Some species are still recovering.
Magellan fixed inside Atlantis
Atlantis, an American shuttle spacecraft, was launched in 1989. It successfully deployed Magellan, which traveled to Venus to map the planet’s surface. Magellan encountered Venus on August 10, 1990 and began taking high-quality radar images on September 15, 1990. It continued to photograph the planet’s surface, making six complete mapping cycles. Magellan mapped about 98 percent of Venus’s surface. It was commanded to plunge into Venus’s surface, still sending data, on October 13, 1994. Children could learn more at: Magellan.
Tiananmen Square Massacre occurred in Beijing, China, in 1989. Several thousand people were killed when Chinese troops opened fire on demonstrators. The protesters were demanding more freedom from the Chinese government. In the weeks following the massacre, thousands of demonstrators were imprisoned.
Voyager 2
Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Saturn in 1981 and to Neptune in 1989. Launched August 20, 1977, Voyager 2 investigated Saturn’s atmosphere. It also researched Neptune’s atmosphere and checked out one of Neptune’s moons, Triton. The spacecraft continues to travel and send back data. Children can keep up to date with that data at: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/
Berlin Wall was opened in 1989. The almost 28-mile long wall was built in 1961 to separate East Berlin from West Berlin. People celebrated when they could freely walk from one part of the city to another. They were able to visit family and friends that they had not seen for years.