~Flashback 1986~

Space shuttle Challenger explodes after launch at Cape Canaveral, Fla., killing all seven aboard (Jan. 28).

US GDP (1998 dollars): $4,422.20 billion
Federal spending: $990.34 billion
Federal debt: $2120.6 billion
Median Household Income
(current dollars): $24,897
Consumer Price Index: 109.6
Unemployment: 7.0%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.22

The Oprah Winfrey Show hits national television.
Nintendo video games introduced in U.S.

Movies

• Platoon, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Color of Money, The Mission

Books

• Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils
• Alice Munro, The Progress of Love
• Peter Taylor, A Summer to Memphis

Grammys awarded in 1986
Record of the Year: "We Are the World," USA for Africa
Album of the Year: No Jacket Required, Phil Collins (Atlantic)
Song of the Year: "We Are the World," Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, songwriters