1985-August

• August 2 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes near Dallas, Texas, killing 137 people.
• August 6 – In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
• August 7 – Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
• August 12 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes in Japan, killing 520 people (the worst single-aircraft disaster in history).
• August 25 – Samantha Smith, "Goodwill Ambassador" between the Soviet Union and the United States for writing a letter to Yuri Andropov about nuclear war, and eventually visiting the Soviet Union at Andropov's request, dies in the Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 plane crash. She was 13.
• August 31
  • Knorr, Robert Ballard, Jean-Louis Michel, and crew, find the wreck of R.M.S. Titanic.
  • Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as the Night Stalker, is captured in Los Angeles.