
Perseverance (rover)
Perseverance, a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars, as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, lands successfully.
31 events · 20 births · 20 deaths · 8 observances. From 3102 BCE to 2026.

Standout on February 18
Perseverance, a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars, as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, lands successfully.
February 18 is the 49th day of the year. These facts are computed from the calendar, not copied from anywhere.
A dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.

Perseverance, a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars, as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, lands successfully.
Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashes in the Dena sub-range in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, Resulting in 66 Deaths
A series of violent events (pictured) involving protesters, riot police, and unknown shooters began in Kyiv that culminated in the ousting of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych five days later.
Eight gunmen stole US$50,000,000 worth of diamonds from a Swiss-bound aircraft at Brussels Airport.

WikiLeaks published the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by Chelsea Manning.
In a coup d'état, military rebels attacked the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger, and replaced President Mamadou Tandja with a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

Up to 295 people, 182 of which being rescue workers, die near Nishapur, Iran, when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
192 people die when an arsonist sets fire to a subway train in Daegu, South Korea.
Inter-ethnic violence between the Dayak and the Madurese broke out in Sampit, Indonesia, ultimately causing more than 500 deaths and the displacement of 100,000 Madurese from their homes.

American FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested for having spied for the KGB and GRU over a 22-year period.
The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
Richard Petty wins a then-record sixth Daytona 500 after leaders Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crash on the final lap of the first NASCAR race televised live flag-to-flag.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747.

NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its first test flight on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (both pictured).
A thousand armed soldiers raid Kalakuta Republic, the commune of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, leading to the death of Funmilayo Anikulapo Kuti.
The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited the wreaths of late Mao Zedong, killing 694 personnel.
The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.
President Harry S. Truman signed the Rescission Act, annulling benefits payable to Filipino troops who fought for the U.S. during World War II.
The core members of the White Rose, an anti-Nazi resistance group, were arrested by the Gestapo.
Competition between two American merchants in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory, turned into a range war when a member of one faction was murdered by the other.
Vasil Levski, a national hero of Bulgaria, was executed in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities for his efforts to establish an independent Bulgarian republic.
War of the Sixth Coalition: French troops led by Napoleon forced the Army of Bohemia to retreat after it advanced dangerously close to Paris.
Enslaved Malagasy captives on the Dutch East India Company slave ship Meermin began a mutiny that led to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepted an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of forty-four vessels escorted by six men-of-war, destroying or capturing twenty ships.
Northern Crusades: The Battle of Wesenberg (depicted) took place between Novgorodian and Pskovian forces against the Livonian Order and its allies, ending with Russian forces retreating from Danish Estonia.
According to Hindu scriptures, Kali Yuga, the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas, began.
A notable person born on this day. Each links to a person page with their dates and story.





A notable person who died on this day.

Borislav Paravac, Bosnian Serb politician, 8th Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (born 1943)
Gerald Ridsdale, Australian laicised Catholic priest and sex offender (born 1934)
Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (born 1914)
Dale Earnhardt, American racer and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (born 1951)

Jack Northrop, American engineer and businessman, founded the Northrop Corporation (born 1895)
Dragiša Cvetković, Serbian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (born 1893)
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (born 1904)
Gertrude Vanderbilt, American stage actress (born c. 1885)

A holiday, feast day, awareness day or national day observed every year on this date.
Christian feast day: Geltrude Comensoli
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Gambia from the United Kingdom in 1965
Dialect Day (Amami Islands, Japan)
Christian feast day: Colmán of Lindisfarne
Christian feast day: Flavian of Constantinople
Christian feast day: Simeon of Jerusalem (Western Christianity)
Christian feast day: Bernadette Soubirous (France)
Christian feast day: February 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest: 4th millennium BC (3102 BCE). Most recent: Borislav Paravac (2026).
Dates before the year 1 are given on the proleptic Julian calendar. Day-level precision for ancient events is traditional rather than documented.
February 18 is the 49th day of the year, with 316 days left after it.
February 18 falls under Aquarius (January 20 – February 18), a air sign ruled by Uranus (traditionally Saturn). The birthstone for the month is Amethyst.
We record 79 entries for February 18: 31 events · 20 births · 20 deaths · 8 observances. From 3102 BCE to 2026.
Manu Bhaker (2002) is among the notable births on February 18. The births section lists the rest.
The day is filled the first time anyone opens it and then re-checked for new entries about every 90 days. Computed facts such as the weekday and the anniversaries update every year.
One short email a day from this calendar. Kept for this site only.
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