U.S. and Panamanian negotiators finalize terms transferring eventual control of the Panama Canal to Panama, ending decades of dispute.

Apple Computer begins shipping the Apple II, one of the first mass-market personal computers, to retail stores across the United States.

Elvis Presley, 42, was found unresponsive on his bathroom floor at Graceland; he was pronounced dead that afternoon, stunning fans worldwide.

NASA launched Voyager 2 from Cape Canaveral, sending it on a grand tour past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

NASA launched Voyager 1 aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket, beginning a grand tour of the outer planets that would make it the most distant human-made object in space.

Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died in police custody in South Africa after suffering severe head injuries during interrogation.

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, weeks after launch, photographed Earth and the Moon together in a single frame for the first time from deep space.

The U.S. Senate began ratification debate on treaties transferring the Panama Canal to Panama, a fight that would consume Congress for months.