Timeline February 1984

Events in February 1984 10

• 1908 – 1984 Ethel Merman (1908-1984) Died 15 February 1984, aged 76 American singer and actress Ethel Merman, a leading star of Broadway musical theater known for shows including Gypsy and Annie Get Your Gun, died in New York City.
• 1914 – 1984 Yuri Andropov Former KGB chief who briefly led the USSR Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (June 9, 1914 – February 9, 1984) was the Soviet leader from November 1982 until his death in February 1984, just 15 months in office. A former KGB chief, he began some tentative reforms but died before he could implement them.
• 1914 – 1984 Yuri Andropov (1914-1984) Died 9 February 1984, aged 69 Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and former KGB chairman, died in Moscow after a long illness having led the country for only fifteen months. He was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko.
• 1982 – 1984 Andropov in power KGB chief leads the USSR — 1982 to 1984 Andropov led the Soviet Union for just 15 months before his death from kidney failure. Despite the brief tenure, he began some anti-corruption campaigns and promoted younger reformers including Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1984 First untethered spacewalk Bruce McCandless tests the Manned Maneuvering Unit Astronaut Bruce McCandless became the first person to walk in space without a tether, using a jet-propelled backpack called the Manned Maneuvering Unit during the Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-41-B. Photographs of him floating free against Earth became one of the era's iconic images.
• 1984 1984 Winter Olympics XIV Winter Games - Sarajevo Torvill and Dean won gold with a perfect score in ice dance. Winner: East Germany.
• 1984 – 1985 Chernenko in power Last old-guard leader — 1984 to 1985 Chernenko led the Soviet Union for just 13 months, already gravely ill when appointed. His brief tenure was largely uneventful. His death at age 73 prompted the Politburo to finally choose a younger leader — Mikhail Gorbachev, aged 54.
• 1984 Konstantin Chernenko becomes Soviet leader Succeeds Yuri Andropov as General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko was named General Secretary of the Communist Party following the death of Yuri Andropov. Already in poor health, Chernenko led the Soviet Union for just over a year before his own death in March 1985.
• 1984 Marries Renate Blauel Valentine's Day, 1984 Married Renate Blauel, a German-born recording studio engineer he met while recording "Too Low for Zero", on Valentine's Day 1984 in Sydney, Australia. The marriage drew intense press scrutiny and ended in divorce after less than five years.
• 1984 Torvill and Dean win Olympic ice dance gold Perfect scores for their Bolero routine British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won Olympic gold at the Sarajevo Winter Games with a free dance set to Ravel's Bolero, receiving a then-unprecedented set of perfect 6.0 scores. The performance remains one of the most celebrated in figure skating history.