Historical timeline for January 22

Ram Mandir is inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh after 500 years of dispute.

U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp; congressional opposition will prevent it being implemented.

At least 88 people are killed when two car bombs explode in the Bab Al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, Iraq.

Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president.

Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.

Space Shuttle program: space shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-89 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid suicide bombing: In central Israel, near Netanya, two Gazans blow themselves up at a military transit point, killing 19 Israeli soldiers.

Space Shuttle program: The space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space.

Philippine security forces open fire on a crowd of 10,000–15,000 demonstrators at Malacañang Palace, Manila, killing 13.

In a bout for the world heavyweight boxing championship in Kingston, Jamaica, challenger George Foreman knocks down champion Joe Frazier six times in the first two rounds before the fight is stopped by referee Arthur Mercante Sr..

A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.

The crew of Apollo 17 addresses a joint session of Congress after the completion of the final Apollo Moon landing mission.

The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states. This decision is subsequently overturned in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022.

The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.

The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

Apollo Program: Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.

Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.

Between dozens and hundreds of anti-Somocista demonstrators are killed by the Nicaraguan National Guard in Managua.

The Élysée Treaty of cooperation between France and West Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.

Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.