December 21Crew of Apollo81620 The Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower landed at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, to establish the Plymouth Colony.1963 An attempt by Greek Cypriot police to search certain Turkish Cypriot women in Nicosia escalated into island-wide violence, leading to 538 deaths and the displacement of nearly 27,000 people.1968 Apollo8 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a trajectory to the Moon; its crew (pictured) became the first humans to visit another celestial body.1988 A bomb on board Pan Am Flight103 detonated over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.2018 Operatives of the British Special Boat Service boarded the container ship Grande Tema in the Thames Estuary to detain four stowaways who had threatened the crew.Sun Sheng (d.956)Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid (d.1215)Luang Por Dattajivo (b.1940)Hu Jintao (b.1942)More anniversaries: December 20December 21December 22ArchiveBy emailList of days of the yearAbout