Global Events of April 2026 as of the 15th
- Apr 17
- 2 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
April 1st: NASA’s Artemis II Mission set off on a journey around the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 launched on December 17, 1972. Three American astronauts (Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch), along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, were selected for the mission on April 3, 2023 (NASA).
April 6th: Artemis II broke the record for being the farthest human-carrying shuttle from the Earth at 252,756 miles (NASA).
April 7th: A special election in Georgia’s Fourteenth Congressional District results in Clayton Fuller (Republican) beating out Shawn Harris (Democratic) by 11.8 points, a leftward shift of over 25 points compared to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s win in 2024. In addition, an officially ‘non-partisan’ judicial election in the swing-state of Wisconsin was held, and Democrat-aligned attorney and former State House member Chris Taylor was elected over Republican-aligned judge Maria Lazar. This election brought Democratic control of the Court to 5-2, and definitively so until at least 2030, based upon the number of elections with incumbents until then (NYT).
April 8th: After U.S. President Trump threatened Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the two countries negotiated a two-week ceasefire meant to calm down tensions and bring about a peace treaty (NYT).
April 10th: The Artemis II astronauts made it safely back home after landing in the Pacific Ocean. Afterward, The USS San Diego sailed the crew from the capsule back to the shore.
April 11th: U.S. Vice President Vance traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, to negotiate with Iranian leaders, the main goal being to coerce them to capitulate and remove all nuclear material (BBC).
April 12th: The 2026 Hungarian Parliamentary Election was held, where Prime Minister Victor Orbán (FIDESZ-KDNP) lost to Péter Magyar (TISZA). The latter won a supermajority of mandates (141 out of 199) and knocked the former out of his 16-year prowess as head of state. The election was a grave choice for Hungarian citizens between allowing the survival of the pro-Russian, far-right, Euro-sceptic FIDESZ-KDNP party and the more moderate-right pro-European, anti-Russian TISZA party (NYT).
April 12th: Vance left Pakistan without a peace deal after a 21-hour talk (PBS).
April 13th: The U.S. Navy started a blockade of Iranian ports with ships attempting to travel through the Strait of Hormuz (WSJ).