What will the year 2009 be remembered for? Will it be remembered for the tragic deaths of celebrities, such as Farrah Fawcett or Michael Jackson? Or will it be remembered as the year of the swine flu outbreak? Listed below are the top five events of 2009. You decide for yourself which is the most memorable.

1) The Swine Flu (H1N1)- Swine flu first appeared in the U.S in April of 2009 and hasn’t yet gone away. The swine flu surged as schools opened in the fall. The virus is also known as the 2009 H1N1 virus, a type of influenza, and is a human disease. A huge misconception was that the virus could be transmitted through pork products or pigs themselves. This has since proved to be false. Many schools have held times that students can get the swine flu shot and students that have caught the virus have been told to stay home. The CDC estimated that, in the USA alone, and as of November 14, there had been 9,820 deaths caused by the swine flu.

2) The “Balloon Boy” hoax- The “Balloon Boy” hoax occurred on October 15, 2009, in Fort Collins, Colorado, when the parents of a six-year-old boy, Falcon Heene, falsely claimed that he had floated away in a homemade balloon. The reports said the Falcon Heene was apparently traveling at altitudes reaching 7,000 feet in a homemade helium balloon resembling a UFO or a flying saucer. After the long flight the balloon finally landed about 12 miles outside the Denver International Airport. Once police reached the balloon the boy was not found to be inside. The police man-hunted the entire area fearing he fell out of the balloon, soon to find out the boy had been found hiding in his house the entire time.

3) Most significant deaths of 2009- The year 2009 held tragic deaths of very important people that many children, teens and adults may have looked up to at some point in their lives.

a. Chris Henry: Almost one of the biggest local deaths of 2009 was Chris Henry, the Bengal’s wide receiver. He died December 17, 2009 at 6:36 a.m. Henry was 26 years old. He was involved in a domestic dispute with his fiancé, Loleini Tonga. Henry jumped into the bed of a truck driven by Tonga and at one point fell out as the dispute continued. Chris Henry worked through several arrests and suspensions early in his career and overcame them after being granted a second chance by Bengal’s owner Mike Brown. He gave Henry the chance to re-sign him in August 2008. Best friend Chad Ochocinco and Coach Marvin Lewis both said that Henry was a changed man and didn’t deserve to die. Henry’s death was the second traumatic experience to hit the Bengal’s this season.

b. Michael Jackson: American singer, dancer, and entertainer. Referred to as the King of Pop, he died June 25, 2009. He was one of the most commercially successful and one of the most influential entertainers of his time. Jackson’s death occurred after he suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles, California. He was treated by the paramedics at his home, but was pronounced dead at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. On August 28, the Los Angeles County Coroner released an official statement saying that Jackson’s death was a homicide caused by the combination of drugs in his system. Before his death, Jackson’s death, he had reportedly been administered propofol. Propofol itself can become slightly to moderately addictive only in the rarest cases of its use in non-sleeping doses. Michael Jackson died at the age of 50.

c. Farrah Fawcett: The girl who was known for her cascading golden hair and bombshell body and as the 1970s “it girl” died in a Santa Monica hospital on June 25, 2009. Fawcett had fought the battle of cancer and finally passed away. She had been battling anal cancer since 2006. In 2007 Fawcett’s doctors declared her cancer-free after they removed a tumor in 2007, but her cancer returned later that year. She had been receiving multiple treatments but couldn’t fight it anymore and died at the age of 62.

d. Edward Kennedy: The United States Senator from Massachusetts and member of the Democratic Party died August 25, 2009. At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate. In May of 2008, Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, which limited his appearances in the Senate. He died in his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He was the fourth-longest-serving senator in U.S history, and for many years was the most prominent member of the Kennedy family to be living. Kennedy died at the age of 77.

e. Walter Cronkite: Walter Cronkite was an American broadcast journalist and was best known as an anchorman for the CBS evening news. Cronkite died at the age of 92 at his home in New York with his family alongside him. He died of an illness that he had been battling for a while. Chief of Staff, Marlene Adler, said the cause of his death was cerebral vascular disease.

4) The American Samoa Tsunami- 119 dead, and all villages wiped out in Samoa Tsunami. The great tsunami hit Samoa on September 30, 2009. The tsunami was cause by a small quake that hit a small cluster of South Pacific islands, was generated by a magnitude 8.3 earthquake. Samoa was flattened, cars were swept away and the houses were gone. Earlier that day the area has been through a minor earthquake, and a tsunami watch was not issued until after the quake reached as far as New Zealand, Hawaii, California and Oregon.

5) Barack Obama Inaugurated as first African American president- Barack Obama was sworn into office as the first African American President of the United States. Obama is currently the 44th president of the United States and his inauguration sparked American attention around the world. Barack Obama took office on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 and estimates stay that up to three million people were in attendance at the inauguration.

So as you can see 2009 has been filled with many memories that most people will never forget. These are just a few of the memorable events of 2009. What will 2010 bring?