We are just scratching the surface with some of the major events of the 1980s - but there is much more! To narrow it down, here are just a few of the decade's events: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War. John Lennon was murdered in NYC in 1980. In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated. The AIDS epidemic became recognized in the 1980s and has since killed tens of millions of people. Global warming became well known to the scientific and political community in the 1980s. The 1980s were considered to be the final decade of the Cold War. Major civil discontent and violence occurred, including the Iran–Iraq War, the Soviet–Afghan War, the 1982 Lebanon War, the bombing of Libya in 1986, and the First Intifada in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Islamism became a powerful political force in the 1980s and many terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, started. Acts of terrorism do begin to increase around the world. Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, U.S. on May 18, 1980, killing 57 people. In 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up seconds after take off on live TV. The 1980s was the dawning of the information era, with the growth of personal computers and the internet. At the end of the 1980s, a new decade will see the destruction of the Berlin Wall,the successful reunification of Germany and freedom for Nelson Mandela in South Africa.