Date in year · 1977 · The 1970s

August 12, 1977

On August 12, 1977, the first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. The year's #1 song was "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" by Rod Stewart. Vitor Belfort, Haimar Zubeldia, Ivonne Teichmann would arrive in the same year.

Events

2

Births

0

Deaths

0

Year

1977

1970s

Around 1977

The year in brief

1977 (MCMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1977th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 977th year of the 2nd millennium, the 77th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1970s decade.

Read the full year of 1977 →

What happened

On August 12, 1977

  1. 1977 The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

    Trials of the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise

    The Approach and Landing Tests were a series of sixteen taxi and flight trials of the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise that took place between February and October 1977 to test the vehicle's flight characteristics. Of the sixteen taxi-tests and flights, eleven saw Enterprise remain mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), while the final five had the shuttle separate from the SCA, with the on-board crew flying and landing the spacecraft.

  2. 1977 The Sri Lanka Riots: Targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.

    Second islandwide Sinhalese-Tamil clash in Sri Lanka

    The 1977 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka followed the 1977 general elections in Sri Lanka where the Sri Lankan Tamil nationalistic Tamil United Liberation Front won a plurality of minority Sri Lankan Tamil votes. In the elections, the party stood for secession. An official government estimate put the death toll at 125, whereas other sources estimate that around 300 Tamils were killed by Sinhalese mobs.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1977

The class of 1977

Others born in 1977

Vitor Belfort 1977– Brazilian-American boxer and mixed martial artist
Haimar Zubeldia 1977– Spanish cyclist
Ivonne Teichmann 1977– German runner
Margus Tsahkna 1977– Estonian lawyer and politician
Nate Fox 1977– American basketball player (died 2014)
Martin Kaalma 1977– Estonian footballer

Step through

Nearby

Keep going

More to explore