May 4, 1989

1989Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer^[†]

Rory Daniel McIlroy is a Northern Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking and has spent over 100 weeks in that position during his career. A five-time major champion, he is one of six men to achieve a modern career grand slam and the first European to do so.

1989James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player^[†]

James van Riemsdyk, often known by his initials JVR, is an American professional ice hockey left winger for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Between 2012 and 2018, he played in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, before joining the Philadelphia Flyers until 2023.

1989Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.^[†]

The Iran–Contra affair, also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered on arms trafficking to Iran between 1981 and 1986, facilitated by senior officials of the Ronald Reagan administration. As Iran was subject to an arms embargo at the time of the scandal, the sale of arms was deemed illegal. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, passed by Congress in a 411-0 vote and signed into law by Reagan, further funding of the Contras by legislative appropriations was prohibited by Congress, but the Reagan administration continued funding them secretively using non-appropriated funds.

1989Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-30 to deploy the Venus-bound Magellan space probe.^[†]

Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.