Little Joe 5

Little Joe 5 was an unmanned Launch Escape System test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. The mission used a production Mercury spacecraft # 3. The mission was launched November 8, 1960, from Wallops Island, Virginia. The Little Joe 2 flew to an apogee of 10.1 miles (16.2 km) and a range of 13 miles (20.9 km). The mission lasted 2 minutes 22 seconds. Maximum speed was 1,785 mph (798 m/s) and acceleration was 6 g (58.8 m/s²). The mission was a failure and Mercury spacecraft # 3 was destroyed. Payload 1,141 kg.

Category:Mercury program

Project Mercury

Project Mercury was the United States first successful manned spaceflight program. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a man in orbit around the Earth. Early planning and research was carried out by NACA, while the program was officially carried out by the newly created NASA. The name Mercury comes from the Roman god (it is also the name of the innermost planet of the solar system). The Mercury program cost $1.5 billion in 1994 dollars. See NASA Budget.

Spacecraft

__NOTOC__ Mercury spacecraft (also called a capsule or space capsule) were very small one-man vehicles; it was said that the Mercury spacecraft were not ridden, they were worn. Only 1.7 cubic meters in volume, the Mercury capsule was barely big enough to include its pilot. Inside were 120 controls: 55 electrical switches, 30 fuses and 35 mechanical levers. The spacecraft was designed by Max Faget and NASA's Space Task Group. During the launch phase of the mission, the Mercury spacecraft and astronaut were protected from launch vehicle failures by the Launch Escape System. The LES consisted of a solid fuel, 52,000 lbf (231 kN) thrust rocket mounted on a tower above the spacecraft. In the event of a launch abort, the LES fired for 1 second, pulling the Mercury spacecraft away from a defective launch vehicle. The spacecraft would then descend on its parachute recovery system. After booster engine cutoff (BECO), the LES was no longer needed and was separated from the spacecraft by a solid fuel, 800 lbf (3.6 kN) thrust jettison rocket, that fired for 1.5 seconds. To separate the Mercury spacecraft from the launch vehicle, the spacecraft fired three small solid fuel, 400 lbf (1.8 kN) thrust rockets for 1 second. These rockets are called the Posigrade rockets. The spacecraft had only attitude control thrusters. After orbit insertion and before retrofire they could not change their orbit. The spacecraft had three sets of control jets for each axis (yaw, pitch and roll), supplied from two separate fuel tanks. An automatic set of high and low powered jets and a set of manual jets, fueled from either the automatic tank or the manual tank. The pilot could use any one of the three thruster systems and fuel them from either of the two fuel tanks to provide spacecraft attitude control. The Mercury spacecraft were designed to be totally controllable from the ground in the event that the space environment impaired the pilot's ability to function. The spacecraft had three solid fuel, 1000 lbf (4.5 kN) thrust retrorockets that fired for 10 seconds each. One was sufficient to return the spacecraft to earth if the other two failed. The first retro was fired, five seconds later the second was fired (while the first was still firing). Five seconds after that, the third retro fires (while the second retro is still firing). This is called ripple firing. There was a small metal flap at the nose of the spacecraft called the "spoiler". If the spacecraft started to reenter nose first (another stable reentry attitude for the capsule), airflow over the "spoiler" would flip the spacecraft around to the proper, heatshield first reentry attitude. Suborbital Mercury capsules encountered lower reentry temperatures and used beryllium heat-sink heat shields. Orbital missions encountered much higher atmospheric friction and temperatures during reentry and used ablative shields. NASA ordered 20 production spacecraft, numbered 1 through 20, from McDonnell Aircraft Company, St. Louis, Missouri. Five of the twenty spacecraft were not flown. They were, Spacecraft #10, 12, 15, 17, and 19. Two unmanned spacecraft were destroyed during flights. They were Spacecraft #3 and #4. Spacecraft #11 sank and was recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after 38 years. Some spacecraft were modified after initial production (refurbished after launch abort, modified for longer missions, etc) and received a letter designation after their number, examples 2B, 15B. Some spacecraft were modified twice, example, spacecraft 15 became 15A and then 15B. A number of boilerplate spacecraft (mockup/prototype/replica spacecraft, made from non-flight materials or lacking production spacecraft systems and/or hardware) were also made by NASA and McDonnell Aircraft and used in numerous tests, including launches.

Boosters

ablative The Mercury program used three boosters: Little Joe, Redstone, and Atlas. Little Joe was used to test the escape tower and abort procedures. Redstone was used for suborbital flights, and Atlas for orbital ones. Starting in October, 1958, Jupiter missiles were also considered as suborbital launch vehicles for the Mercury program, but were cut from the program in July, 1959 due to budget constraints. The Atlas boosters required extra strengthening in order to handle the increased weight of the Mercury capsules beyond that of the nuclear warheads they were designed to carry. Little Joe was a solid-propellant booster designed specially for the Mercury program. The Titan missile was also considered for use for later Mercury missions, however the Mercury program was terminated before these missions were flown. The Titan was used for the Gemini program which followed Mercury

Astronauts

Gemini program The first Americans to venture into space were drawn from a group of 110 military pilots chosen for their flight test experience and because they met certain physical requirements. Seven of those 110 became astronauts in April 1959. Six of the seven flew Mercury missions (Deke Slayton was removed from flight status due to a heart condition). Beginning with Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 flight, the astronauts named their own spacecraft, and all added 7 to the name to acknowledge the teamwork of their fellow astronauts Mercury had seven prime astronauts, all former military test pilots, known as the Mercury 7. NASA announced the selection of these astronauts on April 9, 1959.
- M. Scott Carpenter (1925-)
- L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. (1927-2004)
- John H. Glenn. Jr. (1921-)
(first American to orbit the earth)
- Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (1926-1967)
- Walter M. Schirra, Jr. (1923-)
- Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (1923-1998)
(first American in space)
- Donald K. "Deke" Slayton (1924-1993)
(grounded in 1962 due to irregular heartbeat, reinstated in 1972 and later flew on Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975)

Flights

The program included 20 robotic launches. Not all of these were intended to reach space and not all were successful in completing their objectives. The fifth flight in 1959 launched a monkey named Sam (a rhesus monkey named after the Air Force School of Aviation Medicine) into space. Other non-human space-farers were Miss Sam (a rhesus monkey), Ham and Enos, both chimpanzees. The Mercury program used the following launch vehicles:
- Little Joe - Suborbital, robotic, and primate flights. Launch escape system tests
- Redstone - Suborbital robotic, primate and piloted orbital flights.
- Atlas - Suborbital robotic, robotic, primate, and piloted orbital flights.

Robotic

- Mercury-Jupiter - Cancelled in July, 1959 - Proposed suborbital launch vehicle for Mercury. Not flown.
- Little Joe 1 - August 21, 1959 - test of launch escape system during flight
- Big Joe 1 - September 9, 1959 - test of heat shield and Atlas / spacecraft interface
- Little Joe 6 - October 4, 1959 - Test of capsule aerodynamics and integrity
- Little Joe 1A - November 4, 1959 - test of launch escape system during flight
- Little Joe 2 - December 4, 1959 - carried Sam the monkey to 85 kilometres in altitude
- Little Joe 1B - January 21, 1960 - carried Miss Sam the monkey to 9.3 statute miles (15 kilometres) in altitude
- Beach Abort - May 9, 1960 - test of the Off-The-Pad abort system
- Mercury-Atlas 1 - July 29, 1960 - first flight of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Little Joe 5 - November 8, 1960 - first flight of a production Mercury spacecraft
- Mercury-Redstone 1 - November 21, 1960 - Launched 4 inches (100 mm). Settled back on pad due to electrical malfunction
- Mercury-Redstone 1A - December 19, 1960 - first flight of Mercury spacecraft and Redstone booster
- Mercury-Redstone 2 - January 31, 1961 - carried Ham the Chimpanzee on suborbital flight
- Mercury-Atlas 2 - February 21, 1961 - test of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Little Joe 5A - March 18, 1961 - test of the launch escape system during the most severe conditions of a launch
- Mercury-Redstone BD - March 24, 1961 - Redstone Booster Development - test flight
- Mercury-Atlas 3 - April 25, 1961 - test of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Little Joe 5B - April 28, 1961 - test of the launch escape system during the most severe conditions of a launch
- Mercury-Atlas 4 - September 13, 1961 - test of Mercury spacecraft and Atlas Booster
- Mercury-Scout 1 - November 1, 1961 - test of Mercury tracking network
- Mercury-Atlas 5 - November 29, 1961 - carried Enos the Chimpanzee on a two orbit flight

Primate flights

- Little Joe 2 - December 4, 1959 - carried Sam the monkey to 85 kilometres in altitude
- Little Joe 1B - January 21, 1960 - carried Miss Sam the monkey to 9.3 statute miles (15 kilometres) in altitude
- Mercury-Redstone 2 - January 31, 1961 - carried Ham the Chimpanzee on suborbital flight
- Mercury-Atlas 5 - November 29, 1961 - carried Enos the Chimpanzee on a two orbit flight

Piloted

Suborbital

- Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7) - 5 May 1961 - Alan Shepard
- Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) - 21 July 1961 - Gus Grissom

Orbital

- Mercury Atlas 6 (Friendship 7) - 20 February 1962 - John Glenn
- Mercury-Atlas 7 (Aurora 7) - 24 May 1962 - Scott Carpenter (replaced Deke Slayton)
- Mercury-Atlas 8 (Sigma 7) - 3 October 1962 - Wally Schirra
- Mercury-Atlas 9 (Faith 7) - 15 May 1963 - Gordon Cooper
- Mercury-Atlas 10 (Freedom 7-II) - October 1963 - Cancelled June 13, 1963 1963 1963

Piloted Mercury launches

1963

Mercury Flight insignias

Flight patches are available to the public that purport to be patches from various Mercury missions. In reality, these patches were designed long after the Mercury program ended by private entrepreneurs. When genuine flight patches were created by crews in the Gemini program, this caused a public demand for Mercury flight patches, which was filled by these private entrepreneurs. The only patches the Mercury astronauts wore were the NASA logo and a name tag. Each manned Mercury spacecraft, however, was decorated with a flight insignia. These are the genuine Mercury flight insignias. They were approved by the Mercury astronauts and painted on their spacecraft. Each flight insignia is illustrated in the photo above.

Follow-on programs

Miscellaneous

The Mercury astronauts trained, in part, at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, under Flight Surgeon William K. Douglas and Keith G. Lindell (COL, USAF). Several bridges throughout the city bear the name of the Mercury astronauts, and the main route in the city is named Mercury Boulevard, honoring the Mercury program. The names of five of the Mercury astronauts are also commemorated in the popular 1960s TV show Thunderbirds. In the series, Jeff Tracy, the founder of the fictional International Rescue organisation, is a millionaire ex-astronaut who has named his five sons -- Scott, Virgil, Alan, John and Gordon -- after the real-life Mercury astronauts.

External links

- [http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/mercury/mercury.htm The Mercury Project (Kennedy Space Center)]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/contents.htm Project Mercury A Chronology (Prepared by James M. Grimwood)]
- [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4003/cover.htm Space Medicine In Project Mercury By Mae Mills Link]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/diagrams/mercury.html Project Mercury Drawings and Technical Diagrams]
- [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/diagrams/diagrams.htm Technical Diagrams and Drawings]
- [http://www.geocities.com/atlas_missile/mercury.htm Mercury-Atlas Diagrams]
- [http://projectmercury5.moonport.org Project Mercury Simulator for the PC (Orbiter)]
- [http://youarego.com Project Mercury Simulator for the Mac]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670028606_1967028606.pdf The Mercury Redstone Project (PDF) December 1964]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740076527_1974076527.pdf Project Mercury familiarization manual (PDF) November 1961]
- [http://www.ibiblio.org/mscorbit/document.html Various PDFs of historical Mercury documents including familiarization manuals.] Category:Manned spacecraft Category:Human spaceflight programmes
- ja:マーキュリー計画

1960

1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February

- January - State of emergency is lifted in Kenya - Mau Mau Rebellion is officially over
- January 1 - Independence of Cameroon
- January 9-11 - Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt
- January 14 - Reserve bank and Commonwealth Bank are created
- January 21 - Mine collapses at Coalbrook, South Africa - 437 dead
- January 22 - In France, president Charles de Gaulle fires Jacques Massun, commander-in-chief for the French troops in Algeria
- January 22-23 - Jacques Piccard and Donald Walsh descend into the Marianas Trench in the bathyscape Trieste, reaching the depth of 10.916 meters
- January 23 - Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the bathyscaphe USS Trieste break a depth record when they descend to the bottom of Challenger Deep 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) below sea level in the Pacific Ocean
- January 24 - A major insurrection in Algiers against French colonial policy
- January 25 - The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records
- February 1 - In Greensboro, N.C., four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South, and six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.
- February 5 - Particle accelerator of CERN inaugurated in Geneve, Switzerland
- February 8-February 9 - Adolph Coors II killed during an attempt to kidnap him in Colorado. Joseph Corbett Jr is arrested next October
- February 9 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- February 9 - Adolph Coors III, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped and captors demand $500,000. Coors is later found dead and Joseph Corbett Jr is indicted.
- February 10 - In Brussels, conference about Congo independence begins
- February 11 - 12 Indian soldiers die in clashes with Chinese troops at the border
- February 11 - The airship ZPG-3W is destroyed in a storm in Massachusetts
- February 13 - Nuclear testing: France tests its first atomic bomb in Sahara
- February 18 - 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.
- February 29-March 1 night - Earthquake totally destroys Agadir, Morocco.

March-April

Morocco
- March 6 - Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
- March 6 - Canton of Geneve in Switzerland gives women the right to vote
- March 21 - Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Afrikaner police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
- March 22 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow & Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
- April 1 - Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
- April 1 - The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1
- April 4 - First three female priests ordained in Sweden
- April 9 - Gunman attacks South African Prime Minister Verwoerd in Johannesburg and wounds him seriously
- April 12 - Eric Peugeot, youngest son of founder of Peugeot is kidnapped in Paris. Kidnappers release him April 15 in exchange for $300,000 ransom
- April 13 - USA launches navigation satellite Transat I-b
- April 21 - In Brazil, The Country's capital (Federal District) is shifted from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília. The Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) is founded to succeed Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian Federal District.
- April 27 - Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship

May

- May 1 - Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane; the pilot Gary Powers is captured
- May 4 - West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is fired because of his nazi past
- May 9 - Reproductive rights: The Food and Drug Administration approves sale of the birth control pill
- May 10 - The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus completes the first under water circumnavigation of the Earth
- May 11 - In Buenos Aires four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who was using the assumed name "Ricardo Klement"
- May 13 - First ascent of Dhaulagiri, world's 7th highest mountain
- May 14 - Kenyan African National Congress party is founded in Kenya when three political parties join forces
- May 15 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit
- May 16 - Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower for U-2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union thus ending a Big Four summit in Paris
- May 16 - Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
- May 20 - In Japan, police carries away socialist members of the diet. Parliament then approves a security treaty with the USA
- May 22 - Great Chilean Earthquake: Chile's subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Península de Taitao, loosing a tsunami and one of the greatest earthquakes on record
- May 23 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured
- May 27 - In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celal Bayar and the government and invites General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.

June-July

- June 4 - Lake Bodom murders in Finland.
- June 9 - Typhoon Mary kills 1600 in Fukien province of China
- June 15 - Violent demonstrations in Tokyo University - police arrests 182, 589 are injured
- June 15 - BC Ferries, the second largest ferry operator in the world starts service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
- June 20 - Independence of Mali and Senegal
- June 22 - Erin Brockovich is born.
- June 23 - Japanese prime minister Kishi announces his resignation
- June 24 - Joseph Kasavubu elected the first president of independent Congo
- June 24 - Avro 748 first flight at Woodford, UK
- June 26 - British Somaliland gains independence from UK - 5 days later it united with the former Italian Somaliland to create modern Somali Republic
- June 30 - Belgian Congo gains independence from Belgium - civil war follows
- June 30 - The Mali Federation between Senegal and Sudanese Republic (modern-day Mali) gains independence from France
- July 1 - A Soviet MiG fighter north of Murmansk in the Barents Sea shot down a six-man RB-47. Two United States Air Force officers survived and were imprisoned in Moscow's dreaded Lubyanka prison. (see RB-47H shot down)
- July 4 - Following the admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state the previous year, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- July 10 - The Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first European Football Championship
- July 11 - Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent; he receives Belgian help
- July 12 - Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded
- July 14 - United Nations decides to send troops to Katanga to oversee Belgian troops withdrawal
- July 20 - Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first female head of government.
- July 21 - Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II - he has made a record solo Atlantic crossing in 40 days
- July 27 - OECD founded

August

- August - Stanley Clifford Weyman, US impostor, is killed when he tries to prevent a robbery
- August 5 - Burkina Faso declares independence from France
- August 6 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- August 6 - In Congo, Albert Kalonji declares independence of Autonomous State of South Kasai
- August 7 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
- August 11 - Chad becomes independent.
- August 16 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 982 km/h (614 mi/h).
- August 16 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom
- August 17 - Gabon gains independence from France
- August 17 - Trial of U-2 pilot Gary Powers begins in Moscow
- August 18 - Enovid, the first commercially produced oral contraceptive, is launched in Skokie, Illinois
- August 19 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage
- August 19 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5 with the dogs Belka and Strelka (Russian for "Squirrel" and "Little Arrow"), 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants. The spacecraft return to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
- August 20 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
- August 25 - 1960 Summer Olympics open in Rome. USS Seadragon (SSN-584) surfaces at the north pole where the crew plays softball.
- August 29 - September 13 - Hurricane Donna kills 50 in Florida-New England area

September-October

- September 1 - Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
- September 1 - Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the history of the company (event lasted 2 days)
- September 5 - Cassius Clay wins the gold medal in boxing at the Rome Olympic Games.
- September 5 - Congo president Joseph Kasavubu fires Patrice Lumumba's government and places him under house arrest
- September 8 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1)
- September 14 - Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Congo in a military coup
- September 14 - Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela form OPEC
- September 26 - The two leading US presidential candidates, Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised presidential debate.
- October 1 - Nigeria gains independence - Nnamdi Azikiwe is the first native Governor General
- October 3 - Jânio Quadros, elected president of Brazil, for a five-year term.
- October 5 - White South Africans vote to make country a republic.
- October 7 - Second notable flood in Horncastle
- October 12 - Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a General Assembly of the United Nations meeting to protest discussion of Soviet Union policy toward Eastern Europe.
- October 12 - Otoya Yamaguchi asassinates Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of Japanese Socialist Party
- October 14 - US presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps
- October 24 - Rocket explodes in Baikonur space center during fueling - 91 dead
- October 29 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later took the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight

November

Muhammad Ali
- November 1 - While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.
- November 2 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
- November 8 - U.S. presidential election, 1960: In a close race, John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest man elected to that office.
- November 13 - Sammy Davis, Jr. marries Swedish actress May Britt. Interracial marriage is still illegal in 31 US states out of 50.
- November 15 - The Polaris missile is test launched
- November 22 - United Nations supports government of Joseph Kasa Vubu and Joseph Mobutu in Congo
- November 28 - Mauritania becomes independent of France
- November 30 - Production of the De Soto automobile brand ceases

December

- December 1 - Patrice Lumumba, the deposed premier of the Congo was arrested by troops of Col. Joseph Mobutu.
- December 1 - A 5-ton Soviet space ship containing animals, insects and plants was launched into orbit. The spacecraft burned up upon re-entry.
- December 2 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talked with Pope John XXIII for about an hour in the Vatican. It was the first time in more than 500 years that a head of the Anglican church had visited the Pope.
- December 2 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1M for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees in Florida. Cuban refugees have been arriving in Florida at the rate of 1,000 a week.
- December 2 - Congolese soldiers arrest Patrice Lumumba.
- December 4 - Admission to the United Nations of Mauritania was vetoed by the USSR.
- December 5 - Pierre Lagaillarde, who led 1958 and 1960 insurrections in Algeria, failed to appear in a Paris court. He was reported to have fled with 4 fellow defendants to Spain en route to Algeria.
- December 7 - The United Nations Security Council was called into session by the USSR to consider the Soviet demands that the U.N. seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.
- December 9 - French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria was marked by bloody riots by European and Muslim mobs in Algeria's largest cities, killing 127 people.
- December 12 - A Federal Court ruling that Louisiana's anti-integration laws were unconstitutional was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
- December 13 - While the Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was on a visit to Brazil, an unsuccessful revolt against his rule is carried out by his Imperial Guard. The rebels proclaim the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen.
- December 13 - Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras found the Central American Common Market.
- December 14 - Antione Gizenga proclaims in Stanleyville in the Congo that he has assumed the premiership.
- December 14 - OECD formed in Paris.
- December 15 - King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the government and takes power into his own hands.
- December 15 - Royal wedding in Belgium: King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.
- December 16 - U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter announced that the United States would commit five atomic submarines and 80 Polaris missiles to NATO by the end of 1963.
- December 16 - The midair collision between a United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super-Constellation over New York City kills all 128 on both planes and 6 persons on the ground.
- December 17 - Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia suppress the revolt that started on December 13 and give power back to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
- December 19 - Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, the U.S.'s largest aircraft carrier, while it is under construction at a Brooklyn Navy Yard pier, injuring 150 and killing 50.
- December 20 - Discoverer XIX is launched into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, to measure radiation.
- December 27 - France sets off its third nuclear test blast at its atomic proving grounds at Reggane, Algeria.