Important Events on December 8 in World History

Following are the important events in World History on December 8

1987: Nuclear Weapons Reduction Treaty

A nuclear weapons reduction treaty was signed between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhael Gorbachev. This treaty was named the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty(INF Treaty). The agreement was meant to eliminate the stock of intermediate land-based missiles carrying nuclear warheads of both nations. Apart from the ground missiles, the agreement looked to eliminate Intermediate-Range ballistic missiles and short-range ballistic missiles. At present, the treaty is suspended.

1991: CIS

Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus together signed an agreement so as to form a Commonwealth of Independent States as the Soviet Union ended. 11 republics subsequently joined along with Russia and became part of this association. The other republics were Kazhakhstan, Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan, Turkmenstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova. The headquarters of CIS is at Minsk, Belarus.

2010: Dragon from SpaceX

SpaceX became the first commercial company to release a spacecraft. The name of the spacecraft was Dragon. This is an American company. Full form of SpaceX is Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. It successfully completed the mission and returned to Earth. The company's headquarters is at Hawthorne, California, America. Elon Musk is the entrepreneur who formed the company. Falcon 1 was its first venture. On December 8, SpaceX had its first test flight to International Space Station. On that day it carried cargo to space. Dragon could carry 6000 kilograms of cargo. The capsule was launched by Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Cape Canaveral, Florida was the launching station.