Camcorders change the face of home movies. More medals are handed out to U.S. troops than in all the Vietnam war. Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia nervosa. Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space. Vanessa Williams becomes the first African American named Miss America, but she'll be forced to resign the next year when old nude photos are published.
Compact discs begin showing up in record stores.
Aboard are 240 passengers, a cabin crew of 20, a three-man flight crew and six other KAL crew members headed home to Seoul. The flight drifts into Soviet air space over Sakhalin Island, where it is struck by two missiles fired by a Soviet pilot. There are no survivors. Among the dead is Spec. 5 Dan Kluck of Owensboro.