Events in History
- May 1 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville Tennessee opens
- May 2 Falklands War: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men
- May 3 NY Times reports that military will get 25% of NASA's budget
Event of Interest
May 3 President Reagan begins 5 minute weekly radio broadcasts

Ronald Reagan
Event of Interest
May 12 In Fatima Portugal, a Spanish Traditionalist priest who opposed Vatican II reforms and saw Pope John Paul II as a perpetrator of them, is stopped prior to his attempt to attack the Pope with a bayonet

John Paul II
- May 13 Braniff Airlines files for bankruptcy
- May 13 Soyuz T-5 is launched-Berezovoi & Lebedev for 211 days in space
- May 14 Guinea adopts constitution
- May 16 Columbia moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating in preparation for STS-4
- May 16 Salvador Jorge Blanco wins presidential election in Dominican Rep
- May 18 Unification Church founder Rev Sun Myung Moon convicted of tax evasion
- May 21 British troops land on Falkland Islands
- May 23 Colin Wilson rides a surfboard 294 miles
- May 23 Pope John Paul II declares "Peerke" Donders a saint
- May 24 Liberation of Khorramshahr; Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq War
- May 25 Iranian troops reconquer Khorramshar
- May 25 STS-4 vehicle moves to launch pad
- May 26 British ship Atlantic Conveyor carrying Chinook helicopters and destroyer HMS Coventry hit in Falkland war: 39 crew members die
- May 28 Pope John Paul II is 1st reigning pope to visit Great Britain (Adrian IV was born in England, as Nicholas Breakspear)
- May 29 1st papal visit to Britain since 1531
- May 29 Pentagon plans 1st strategy to fight a nuclear war
- May 30 Spain becomes 16th member of NATO
Birthdays in History
- May 10 Daniel Harris, Australian rules footballer
- May 10 Jeremy Gable, American playwright
- May 13 Yoko Kumada, Japanese gravure idol
- May 13 Oguchi Onyewu, American footballer
- May 24 DaMarcus Beasley, American footballer (Houston Dynamo), born in Fort Wayne, Indiana
- May 26 Yoko Matsugane, Japanese model
Deaths in History
- May 7 Alfred Adam, dies at 72
- May 8 Neil Bogart, American record executive (b. 1943)
- May 8 Al Leader, Canadian-American Hockey Hall of Fame player, referee and administrator (Western Hockey League), dies at 78
- May 10 Jean C M Picart le Doux, French designer, dies
- May 10 Peter Weiss, German author and playwright (Marat/Sade), dies at 65
- May 12 Humphrey Searle, writer (20th Century counterpoint), dies at 66
- May 14 Baron Mariel-Henri Jaspar, Belgian minister/ambassador, dies
- May 28 Lt Col 'H'. Jones VC, Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (British Army) (Falklands War) (b. 1940)