28 January 1951

The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its tenth mission (video featured), killing all seven crew members.

Tropical Storm Domoina made landfall in southern Mozambique, causing some of the most severe flooding recorded in the region.

U.S. president Ronald Reagan lifted price controls from petroleum products, contributing to the 1980s oil glut.

Three U.S. Air Force pilots aboard an unarmed T-39 Sabreliner were killed when the aircraft was shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.

In Gitarama, Rwanda, local and other government officials initiated a coup to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic.

The Lego Group, a Danish toy company, filed a patent in Denmark for the design of Lego bricks.

World War II: About three hours after Thai bombers raided Sisophon, a ceasefire paused hostilities in the Franco-Thai War.

Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in which he called for the creation of a Muslim state in north-western India that he termed "Pakstan".

The largest recorded snowstorm in the history of Washington, D.C., collapsed the Knickerbocker Theatre (damage pictured), killing 98 people.

The province of Manitoba passed a law that first granted some Canadian women the right to vote.

The word serendipity, derived from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, was coined by Horace Walpole (pictured) in a letter to a friend.

Anglo-Spanish War: In pursuit of retreating Spanish troops, English soldiers sacked the city of Panama.

Nine-year-old Edward VI, the first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant, became king.

Charles V and the estates of the Holy Roman Empire met at the Diet of Worms to discuss Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation.

King Charles VI of France (pictured) was nearly killed when several other dancers' costumes caught fire during a masquerade ball in Paris.

A Learjet 45 crashes on approach to Baramati Airport in Maharashtra, killing all six occupants including the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar.

The Rubaya mine collapse at Rubaya mines in DR Congo causes at least 400 deaths and injured several others.

Storm Kristin causes a catastrophic impact in Portugal and Spain with €6 billion in damage in the central region of Portugal, 15 deaths and 2,000 injuries.

Protests begin in the United States after police beat and kill Tyre Nichols.

The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.

TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100, crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 94.

In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws.

Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.

Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.