1960s Timeline

Aug. 21, 1961 - News of a gigantic explosion in space has just reached earth. A star, perhaps about the size of our sun, suddenly...

Aug. 19, 1961 - A Mercury capsule called Mercury-Atlas 4 (pictured) carrying robot devices that breathe, perspire, and talk is scheduled...

Aug. 18, 1961 - NASA has decided to omit further suborbital flights. Instead, it will concentrate on an orbit of the earth with a manned...

Aug. 12, 1961 - Nearly three months after President Kennedy called for an all-out race to the moon, there is no one in direct charge of...

Aug. 6, 1961 - The earliest the U.S. can now figure on putting a man in orbit is toward the end of the year, according to Project Mercury...

Aug. 6, 1961 - A Soviet spaceship that carried the second Russian astronaut landed safely today after orbiting the earth more than 17...

Aug. 5, 1961 - The Soviet Union put its second manned spaceship into round-the-earth orbit today, Tass press agency said. Tass said the...

July 25, 1961 - NBC-TV made known today its plans to avoid the confusion that led to criticism of the telecast of the astronaut launching...

July 22, 1961 - Capt. Virgil I. Grissom (center) disclosed today he had been "scared" during much of his flight into space yesterday. But...

July 21, 1961 - The nation's capital, from President Kennedy to the man in the street, joined today in praise for Capt. Virgil I. Grissom...

July 21, 1961 - President Kennedy watched the space flight of Capt. Virgil I. Grissom (pictured center) on television this morning. Then...

🚨July 21, 1961 - Virgil I. Grissom became the nation's second space explorer today. The Air Force captain rocketed aboard a Mercury...

July 19, 1961 - Capt. Virgil I. Grissom spent four hours atop a Redstone missile today, ready for a ride into space that was blocked by...

July 19, 1961 - President Kennedy's sharp acceleration of the race for the moon won resounding approval today from a Senate-House...

July 14, 1961 - Two astronauts intensified preparation today for a rocket flight that will send one of them briefly into space next week....

July 13, 1961 - Maj. Yuri A. Gagarin, the Soviet Union's hero of space and now the darling of Londoners, was "imprisoned" in the Tower of...

July 12, 1961 - A color film of the first American astronaut's flight into space will be presented by NBC on Sunday. The account was...

July 12, 1961 - Two candidates for the second manned U.S. spaceflight tested their reflexes today. Marine Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr....

July 11, 1961 - Here is video of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, being interviewed on BBC Television: #space #NASA...