strike for political status at HM Prison Maze (Long Kesh) in Northern Ireland, dying on May 5, the first of 7 IRA and 3 INLA hunger strikers to die. March 11 – Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as President of Chile for another 8-year term. March 17 – In Italy the Propaganda Due Masonic lodge is discovered. March 19 – Two or three workers are killed and 4 injured during a ground test of Space Shuttle Columbia at Kennedy Space Center in the United States. March 29 – The first London Marathon starts, with 7,500 runners. March 30 – Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan: U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; 2 police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded. April April 4 – UK pop group Bucks Fizz's song Making Your Mind Up wins the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. April 11 – 1981 Brixton riot: Rioters in south London, UK, throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops. April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia with NASA astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14. It is the first time a crewed reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit. April 15 – The first Coca-Cola bottling plant in China is opened. April 18 – A Minor League Baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23). April 26 – French presidential election: A first-round runoff results between Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand. May May – Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon basin. May 1 – Pensions in Chile: The new Chilean pension system, based on private pension funds, begins. May 4 – The European Law Students' Association (ELSA) was founded in Vienna by law students from Austria, West Germany, Poland and Hungary. May 6 – A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. from 1,421 other entries. May 13 – Pope John Paul II assassination attempt: Pope John Paul II is shot by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish