On This Day
What Happened on January 22 in History
8 events that happened on January 22, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1901
Queen Victoria died after a 63-year reign that saw the British Empire spread around the globe.
She had come to the throne in 1837, and most of her subjects had known no other monarch. Victoria restored dignity to the monarchy and helped secure its future as a ceremonial institution.
Source: history.com
1905
Russian troops fired on peaceful marchers in St. Petersburg in the Bloody Sunday massacre.
Workers led by the priest Georgy Gapon were marching to the Winter Palace to petition Czar Nicholas II. The killings fed the unrest that became the Revolution of 1905; in Russia's old calendar the date was January 9.
Source: history.com; novaonline.nvcc.edu
1944
The Cold War
1968
NASA launched Apollo 5, the first test flight of the lunar module in space.
A Saturn IB rocket lifted the uncrewed lander into Earth orbit from Kennedy Space Center. The test of its ascent and descent engines and its abort system was judged a complete success.
Source: nasa.gov
1973
The Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, ruling 7-2 that the Constitution protected a woman's choice to have an abortion.
The Court struck down a Texas law banning abortion, grounding the decision in a right to privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Source: history.com
1973
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson died in Texas at the age of 64.
After leaving the White House, Johnson had returned to Texas with Lady Bird Johnson and thrown himself into ranching. His presidency is remembered for advancing civil rights and for his handling of the Vietnam War.
Source: history.com
1984
Apple's "1984" commercial, introducing the Macintosh computer, aired during Super Bowl XVIII.
Directed by Ridley Scott, the ad showed a lone runner hurling a hammer at a giant screen in a gray, Orwellian world. It aired nationally just once but became one of the most famous commercials ever made.
Source: history.com
The Modern Era
1992
Space shuttle Discovery launched on STS-42 with Canada's first woman astronaut, Roberta Bondar.
The mission carried the International Microgravity Laboratory in a pressurized Spacelab module. Payload specialists from Canada and the European Space Agency flew with five NASA astronauts for eight days.
Source: nasa.gov