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Mercury Program

Mercury program

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.

Further reading


- Gene Kranz, Failure is Not an Option. Factual, from the standpoint of a chief flight controller during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs. ISBN 0743200799
- Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff. Sentimental, from the astronaut viewpoint, not meant to be taken as a strict history, but fascinating anyway.
- Schirra, Grissom, Glenn, Slayton, Shepherd, Carpenter, Cooper, We Seven. (ISBN B00005X54G); Simon & Schuster - 1962. Factual; a collection of articles written by the seven Mercury astronauts describing events from their points of view.
- James M. Grimwood, [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4201/cover.htm This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury]
- James M. Grimwood, [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4001/cover.htm Project Mercury - A Chronology]
- Mae Mills Link, [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4003/cover.htm Space Medicine In Project Mercury]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930074071_1993074071.pdf Results of the first US manned orbital space flight - Feb 20, 1962 (Friendship 7) NASA report - (PDF format)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19620004691_1962004691.pdf Results of the second u.s. manned orbital space flight, May 24, 1962 (Aurora 7) NASA report - (PDF format)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19990026158_1999028570.pdf This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury - NASA report (PDF format)]
- [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19630011968_1963011968.pdf Chronology of Project Mercury - NASA report (PDF format)]

See also


- Vostok programme
- Splashdown

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

Manned space missions

Human spaceflight is space exploration with a human crew and possibly passengers, which is in contrast to robotic space probes or remotely-controlled unmanned space missions. On occasion, passengers of other species have ridden aboard spacecraft, although not all survived the return to earth. Dogs, not humans, were the first large mammals launched from Earth. The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961; Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made one orbit around the earth. Perhaps the highest of Earth orbits was Gemini 11 in 1966, which reached a height of 1374 km. The Space Shuttle on the missions to launch and service the Hubble Space Telescope has also reached high earth orbit at an altitude of around 600 km. The destination of human spaceflight missions beyond Earth orbit has only been the Moon. On the first such mission, Apollo 8, the crew orbited the Moon. Apollo 10 was the next mission, and it tested the lunar landing craft in lunar orbit without actually landing. The six missions that landed were Apollo 11-17, excluding Apollo 13. On each mission, two of the three astronauts involved landed on the moon; thus, in the late 1960s and early 1970s NASA's Apollo program landed twelve men on the Moon--returning them all to Earth. As of 2005 piloted space missions have been carried out by Russia, the People's Republic of China, and the United States. Missions carried out by the United States are both governmental (NASA) and civilian (Scaled Composites, a California-based company). Canada, Europe, India, and Japan also have active space programs. The Indian Parliament recently sanctioned funds to the Indian Space Research Organization for a human spaceflight by 2008 (although the programme has now been scaled down to start with an unmanned orbiting satellite for surveying--see Chandrayan). Japan has announced a program to place a person on the moon by 2025. Currently the following spacecrafts and spaceports are used:
- International Space Station (includes Soyuz TMA as an emergency lander; normal crew transport with the following two spacecraft)
- Soyuz TMA with Soyuz launch vehicle - Baikonur Cosmodrome
- Space Shuttle - John F. Kennedy Space Center
- Shenzhou spacecraft with Long March rocket - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne with Scaled Composites White Knight (the latter does not enter space itself) - Mojave Spaceport In an attempt to win the $10 million X-Prize, numerous private companies attempted to build their own manned spacecraft capable of repeated sub-orbital flights. The first private spaceflight took place on June 21 2004, when SpaceShipOne conducted a sub-orbital flight. With its second flight within one week, SpaceShipOne captured the prize on October 4, 2004. NASA uses the term "human spaceflight" to refer to its programme of launching people into space. Traditionally, these endeavours have been referred to as "manned space missions". The term "manned" is accurate in terms of gender when speaking of all U.S. spaceflight programs before the Space Shuttle program and Soviet spaceflights before Vostok 6. Although it only denotes gender in one of several definitions of the word, the term "manned" is considered sexist by some, and they may prefer to use the term "crewed"' or "piloted space missions."

See also


- List of human spaceflights
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
- List of human spaceflights by program
- List of manned spacecraft
- List of spacewalks
- X-15 program
- Astronaut
- List of astronauts by name
- Timeline of astronauts by nationality
- List of space disasters
- Human adaptation to space
- Space colonization
- Space and survival
- Spaceflight records
- Interplanetary travel
- Monkeys in space
- SpaceShipOne

External links


- [http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ NASA Human Space Flight]
- [http://www.thespacereview.com/article/352/1 The top three reasons for humans in space]
- [http://www.chrisvalentines.com/sts107/videoessay.html 20 Minute Video Essay on Human Space Exploration] Category:Human spaceflight

1959

1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. It is also a song by The Sisters of Mercy on the album Floodland.

Events

January


- January 1 - Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
- January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when forces of Fidel Castro advance.
- January 2 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
- January 2 - Castro's troops approach Havana.
- January 3 - Island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
- January 3 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
- January 4 - In Cuba rebel troops lead by Che Guevara and Glenfuego enter Havana.
- January 4 - In Léopoldville 42 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the Abako party.
- January 6 - Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
- January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
- January 8 - Charles De Gaulle inaugurated as the first president of French Fifth Republic.
- January 13 - Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
- January 22 - Knox Mine Disaster - water breaches River Slope mine in Port Griffith, Pennsylvania - 12 miners dead.

February


- February 1 - A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage.
- February 3 - The chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper goes down in an Iowa snowstorm, killing all four occupants on board. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died," popularized in Don McLean's song, "American Pie."
- February 6 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
- February 15 - Mattel's Barbie doll goes on sale in the USA.
- February 16 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
- February 16 - Blizzard causes a massive power outage in Newfoundland.
- February 17 - USA launches Vanguard II weather satellite.
- February 18 - Jesus Sosa Blanco, murderer of 108 people, executed in Cuba.
- February 18 - Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
- February 19 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence.
- February 22 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- February 26 - Author Walter Mene throws acid on Rubens painting in Munich.

March-May


- March 1 - USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia struck from the Naval Vessel Register.
- March 1 – Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
- March 8 - Last television appearance of The Marx Brothers, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery.
- March 9 - The Barbie doll debuts.
- March 17 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
- March 18 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
- March 19 - Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadida Republic (abolished September 1963).
- March 31 - Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida is dedicated and opens its gates.
- March 31 - Dalai Lama leaves Tibet.
- April 9 - NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first US astronauts (see Mercury Seven).
- April 25 - The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.

May-July


- May - First Ten Tors event held in Dartmoor.
- late May / early June - import tariffs lifted in the United Kingdom.
- May 24 - British Empire Day becomes Commonwealth Day.
- June 3 - Singapore becomes a self governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
- June 5 - A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former Ministers were re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
- June 8 - The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
- June 9 - The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
- June 14 - A three-front revolutionary invasion by air and sea takes place in the Dominican Republic consisting of exiles aided by Fidel Castro whose purpose was to overthrow dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Within a few days all but four are captured and executed. Trujillo is killed less than two years later by men partly inspired by the deaths of the 1959 martyrs.
- June 23 - Sean Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.
- June 23 - Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumed a scientific career).
- June 26 - Queen Elizabeth II and US Dwight Eisenhower open Saint Lawrence Seaway.
- July 2 - Royal wedding in Belgium: Prince Albert marries the Italian princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
- July 4 - With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- July 7 - 14:28 UT Venus occulted the star Regulus. The rare event which will next occur on October 1, 2044 was used for determining the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.
- July 15 - Steel industry strike in USA.
- July 24 - At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, US vice-president Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate."

August-December


- August 4 - Martial law declared in Laos.
- August 7 - Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- August 8 - Flood in Formosa leaves 2,000 dead.
- August 14 - Explorer VI sends the first picture of Earth from space
- August 15 - Cyprus gains independence.
- August 16 - Explorer VI sends back the first picture of Earth from space.
- August 21 - Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
- August 24 - Cyprus joins United Nations.
- September 13 - Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon as the first man-made object.
- September 14 - Luna II reaches Moon as the first man-made object.
- September 15 - Russian probe Luna 2 sends back first photos of the far side of Earth's Moon.
- September 25 - Ceylon's prime minister SWRD Bandaranaike assassinated.
- October 12 - At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
- October 12 - Large scale diamond robbery in London.
- October 13 - USA launches Explorer VII.
- October 21 - Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi is arrested in Nyeri, Kenya.
- October 21 - In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
- October 31 - Riots in the Belgian Congo.
- October 31 - Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he won't ever return to US.
- November 1 - Ice Hockey: After being struck in the face with a hockey puck, Montreal Canadiens goaltender, Jacques Plante offered to return to play on the condition that he can wear his protective face mask. It was the first time such equipment was used in a regular NHL game.
- November 2 - Quiz show scandals: "Twenty-One" game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
- November 15 - Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas.
- November 19 - The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel automobile, which had been introduced to the American public on "E Day" only two years earlier -- September 4, 1957.
- November 28 - Anti-USA demonstrations in Panama.
- December 1 - Cold War: Antarctic Treaty signed - 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent (this was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
- December 2 - Malpasset dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Frejus - 412 dead.
- December 14 - Makarios selected first president of Cyprus.

Unknown date


- The neutrino is first experimentally detected, by Cowan and Reines.
- TAT-2 cable goes into operation.
- Workers World Party is founded by Sam Marcy.
- The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
- Serengeti becomes a nature preserve.
- "Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York.

Births

Unknown date


- Claudia Benton, American murder victim (d. 1998)
- Graham Docherty, Scottish rugby player and businessman

January-February


- January 1 - Azali Assoumani, Comorese president
- January 6 - Kathy Sledge, American singer
- January 9 - Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- January 16 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
- January 17 - Susanna Hoffs, American singer (The Bangles)
- January 24 - Nastassja Kinski, German actress
- January 27 - Keith Olbermann, American news correspondent and sportscaster
- February 4 - Lawrence Taylor, American football player
- February 14 - Renee Fleming, American soprano
- February 16 - John McEnroe, American tennis player
- February 22 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
- February 23 - Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
- February 26 - Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player

March-April


- March 6 - Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
- March 8 - Aidan Quinn, American actor
- March 10 -Mike Wallace, NASCAR race car driver
- March 9 Rodney A. Grant, American actor
- March 15 - Harold Baines, baseball player
- March 16 - Flavor Flav, American rapper
- March 16 - Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
- March 17 - Danny Ainge, American basketball player, coach, and baseball player
- March 18 - Luc Besson, French film producer, writer, and director
- March 21 - Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
- March 22 - Matthew Modine, American actor
- March 29 - Perry Farrell, American musician
- April 3 - David Hyde Pierce, American actor
- April 10 - Brian Setzer, American guitarist (Stray Cats)
- April 16 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
- April 21 - Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
- April 22 - Catherine Mary Stewart, Canadian actress
- April 22 - Ryan Stiles, American actor
- April 27 - Sheena Easton, Scottish Singer
- April 30 - Stephen Harper, Canadian politician

May-June


- May 3 - Uma Bharati, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
- May 3 - Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
- May 5 - Steve Stevens, American guitarist
- May 14 - Patrick Bruel, French singer
- May 15 - Andrew Eldritch, British musician (The Sisters of Mercy)
- May 20 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, American singer (d. 1997)
- May 20 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor
- May 22 - Steven Morrissey, British singer
- May 29 - Adrian Paul, British actor
- June 12 - John Linnell, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
- June 26 - Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and comedian
- June 27 - Clint Boon, British musician (Inspiral Carpets)
- June 30 - Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor

July-September


- July 3 - Julie Burchill, British journalist
- July 6 - Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
- July 7 - Ben Linder, American engineer (d. 1987)
- July 10 - Janet Julian, American actress
- July 11 - Richie Sambora, American musician
- July 11 - Suzanne Vega, American singer
- July 13 - Richard Leman, British field hockey player
- July 16 - Gary Anderson, American football player
- July 26 - Kevin Spacey, American actor
- July 29 - Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
- July 29 - Ruud Janssen, Dutch artist
- August 1 - Joe Elliott, lead singer for band Def Leppard.
- August 2 - Apollonia Kotero, American actress and singer
- August 3 - Koichi Tanaka, Japanese scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- August 10 - Rosanna Arquette, American actress
- August 14 - Magic Johnson, American basketball player
- August 18 - Dorothy Bush Koch, sister of George W Bush and daughter of George H W Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush
- August 21 - Jim McMahon, American football player
- August 29 - Timothy Perry Shriver, son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and nephew of John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- August 29 - Stephen Wolfram, British scientist
- August 30 - Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Australian footballer and actor
- September 4 - Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
- September 8 - Mary Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.
- September 14 - Morten Harket, Norwegian singer (a-ha)
- September 21 - Dave Coulier, American actor
- September 22 - James Mark Roth, American author, teacher, missionary, blogger
- September 29 - Benjamin Sehene, Rwandan writer

October-December


- October 3 - Fred Couples, American golfer
- October 3 - Greg Proops, American comedian
- October 3 - Jack Wagner, American actor
- October 9 - Michael Pare, American actor
- October 15 - Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
- October 21 - Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
- October 23 - "Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodist
- October 25 - Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress
- October 27 - Rick Carlisle, American basketball coach
- November 10 - Linda Cohn, American sports reporter
- November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
- November 23 - Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
- November 25 - Charles Kennedy, Scottish politician
- November 28 - Judd Nelson, American actor
- December 13 - Nadia Russ, Ukrainian-born artist
- December 14 - Dana Childs, American radio personality and basketball coach
- December 21 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American athelete (d. 1998)
- December 27 - Gerina Dunwich, American author
- December 31 - Val Kilmer, American actor

Deaths


- January 21 - Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (b. 1881)
- January 22 - Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
- February 3 - Killed in a private plane crash:
  - The Big Bopper, American singer (b. 1930)
  - Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
  - Richie Valens, American singer (b. 1941)
- February 3 - Vincent Astor, American philanthropist (b. 1891)
- February 11 - Marshall Teague, American race car driver (b. 1922)
- February 14 - Baby Dodds, American jazz musician (b. 1898)
- February 15 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- February 28 - Maxwell Anderson, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
- March 3 - Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
- March 4 - Maxey Long, American athlete (b. 1878)
- March 26 - Raymond Chandler, American novelist (b. 1888)
- March 29 - Barthélemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)
- April 9 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
- May 5 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
- May 14 - Sidney Bechet, American musician (b. 1897)
- May 24 - John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
- June 9 - Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- June 23 - Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician
- July 11 - Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
- July 15 - Ernest Bloch, Swiss composer (b. 1880)
- July 15 - Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
- August 5 - Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
- August 6 - Preston Sturges, American film director and writer (b. 1898)
- August 15 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (b. 1901)
- August 16 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
- August 19 - Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
- August 28 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (b. 1890)
- October 7 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (b. 1921)
- October 14 - Errol Flynn, American actor (b. 1909)
- October 16 - George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b.1880)
- October 18 - Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)
- November 15 - Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
- November 17 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
- November 17 - Nichijun Horigome, Japanese priest (b. 1898)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Emilio Gino Segrè, Owen Chamberlain
- Chemistry - Jaroslav Heyrovský
- Medicine - Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg
- Literature - Salvatore Quasimodo
- Peace - Philip John Noel-Baker
- ko:1959년 ja:1959年 simple:1959 th:พ.ศ. 2502

1963

1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February


- January 1 - CSIRO scientist Dr Gilbert Bogle and Mrs Margaret Chandler are found dead, believed to have been poisoned, in bushland near the Lane Cove River, Sydney. Known as the Bogle-Chandler case.
- January 11 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened.
- January 14 - George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama.
- January 22 - Elysée treaty between France and Germany
- January 28 - Black student Harvey Gantt enters Clemson College in South Carolina, the last US state to hold out against racial integration
- January 29 - Charles De Gaulle vetos United Kingdom's entry into the EEC
- February 8 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
- February 11 - CIA Domestic Operations Division is created.
- February 21 - An earthquake in Libya destroys the village of Barce - 500 dead
- February 27 - Juan Bosch takes office as the 41st president of the Dominican Republic.
- February 27 - Female suffrage in Iran

March-April

Iran
- March 1 - Yoko Ono's marriage to American Christian fundamentalist filmmaker Tony Cox is annulled
- March 4 - In Paris six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
- March 16 - Mount Agung erupts on Bali - 11,000 dead
- March 18 - Court decides poor must have lawyers (Gideon vs. Wainwright Supreme Court trial)
- March 21 - Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere at the order of Attorney General Robert F Kennedy.
- March 27 - In Britain Dr Beeching issues report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network.
- April 7 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life
- April 10 - The US nuclear submarine Thresher sinks 220 miles east of Cape Cod with all hands - 129 dead
- April 15 - 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermarston to demonstrate against nuclear weapons
- April 16 - Martin Luther King composes "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
- April 20 – In Quebec, Canada, members of the Quebec terrorist group, the Front de libération du Québec, bomb the Canadian Armed Forces recruitment center, killing night watchman, Wilfred V. O'Neill.
- April 22 - Lester B. Pearson becomes Canada's fourteenth prime minister.
- April 21 thru April 23 - First election of the Supreme Institution of the Bahá'í Faith, known as the Universal House of Justice whose Seat is at the Bahá'í World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.

May-June


- May 1: The Coca-Cola Company debuts its first diet drink, TaB cola. Instead of sugar it is sweetened with saccharin and cyclamates. Later (after cyclamates were banned) TaB became a sugar-and-saccharin soft drink. Today it uses a blend of aspartame (NutraSweet) and saccharin.
- May 2 - Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a rocket with three stages with a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
- May 15 - Mercury program: NASA launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb told Congress the program was complete)
- May 23 - Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union
- May 25 - The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- June 1 - Kenya gains autonomy.
- June 2 - Slavery declared illegal in Saudi Arabia
- June 5 - Profumo Affair - British Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigns in a sex scandal
- June 11 – Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc publicly sets himself on fire in Saigon, Vietnam, to protest against Ngo Dinh Diem's policies
- June 11 - Prime Minister of Greece Constantine Karamanlis resigns in protest of king's visit to Britain
- June 12 - Byron de la Beckwith shoots civil rights leader Medgar Evers in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi.
- June 16 - Vostok 6: Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) becomes the first woman in space.
- June 17 - The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.
- June 21 - Pope Paul VI is elected by College of Cardinals.
- June 30 - Ciaculli Massacre - mafia car bomb explodes in Ciaculli, Sicily, killing 7 police officers

July-August


- July 1 - ZIP Codes introduced in the USA
- July 5 - Diplomatic relations between the Israeli and the Japanese governments are raised to embassies' level.
- July 5 - The Catholic Church accepts cremation as a funeral practice
- July 26 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1800 dead
- July 26 - Syncom, the world's first geostationary (synchronous) satellite is orbited by NASA
- July 27 – Indonesian president-for-life Sukarno declares that he will crush Malaysia – official start of Indonesian Confrontation
- July 30 - Soviet newspaper Izvestia reports that Kim Philby has been given asylum in Moscow
- August 5 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
- August 8 - The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire, England
- August 18 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi
- August 28 - Martin Luther King jr. delivers his "I have a dream" speech on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

September-October


- September 5 - Christine Keeler arrested for perjury. On December 6 she is sentenced to nine months in prison.
- September 6 - The Centre for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI) is founded.
- September 7 - The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.
- September 10 - Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano is indicted for murder. He goes on the run and, as of 2005, is still a fugitive.
- September 15 - American civil rights movement: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing results in 4 deaths and 22 injuries.
- September 16 – Federation of Malaysia formed through the merging of the Federation of Malaya and the British crown colony of Singapore, North Borneo (renamed Sabah) and Sarawak.
- September 18 – Rioters burn down British embassy in Jakarta to protest formation of Malaysia
- September 23 - King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals was was established by a Saudi Royal Decree as the College of Petroleum and Minerals
- September 25 - Denning Report on Profumo affair
- September 29 - Opening of second period of Second Vatican Council in Rome.
- October 9 - Uganda becomes a republic.
- October 9 - In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.

November

Vajont Dam]]
- November 2 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated following a military coup
- November 6 - Vietnam War: Coup leader General Duong Van Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam
- November 7 - Wunder von Lengede: In Germany, 11 miners are rescued from a collapsed mine after 14 days
- November 9 - 1963 Miike coal-mine explosion: In Japan, a coal mine explosion kills 458 and sends 839 carbon monoxide poisoning victims to the hospital
- November 14 - A volcanic eruption under the sea near Iceland creates a new island, Surtsey
- November 16 - Newspaper strike begins in Toledo, Ohio
- November 18 - Dartford Tunnel opens
- November 22 - John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, Texas, U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn-in as the 36th President of the United States.
- November 23 - The first episode of the BBC television series Doctor Who is broadcast in the United Kingdom.
- November 24 - John F. Kennedy assassination: Alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is mortally shot by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on live national television.
- November 24 - Vietnam War: Newly sworn in U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam militarily and economically
- November 25 - John F. Kennedy assassination: The late U.S. President Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
- November 29 - John F. Kennedy assassination: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
- November 29 - Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831, a Douglas DC-8 carrying 118, crashes into a wooded hillside after taking-off from Dorval International Airport near Montreal, killing all 118 on board (for many years this was the worst air disaster in Canada's history).

December


- December 4 - Closing of second period of Second Vatican Council
- End of the Mercury program of United States manned spaceflight
- December 5 - The Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH demonstrates rockets for military use to representatives of the military of non-NATO-countries near Cuxhaven. Although these rockets landed via parachute at the end of their flight and no allied laws were violated, this action led to protests by the Soviet Union.
- December 12 – Kenya becomes independent with Jomo Kenyatta as a prime minister
- December 22 - Cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives
- December 24 - Cyprus Emergency - A brief civil war in Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots erupts
- December 31 - Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland formally dissolved

Unknown date


- David. H. Frisch and J. H. Smith prove radioactive decay of mesons is slowed by their motion. (See Einstein's special relativity and general relativity).
- Full deployment of SAGE, the semi-automated ground environment.
- TAT-3 cable goes into operation.
- Arecibo Observatory officially begins operation.
- Ostankino Tower in Moscow begins construction.
- The divorce case of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll causes scandal in the United Kingdom
- Harvey Ball invents the ubiquitous smiley
- One of the most spectacular years for vintage Port in the 20th Century.

Births

January-February


- January 1 - Laura Ingraham, American talk show host and author
- January 2 - David Cone, baseball player
- January 2 - Edgar Martinez, baseball player
- January 14 - Steven Soderbergh, American film director
- January 21 - Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian basketball player
- January 21 - Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player
- January 23 - Gail O'Grady, American actress
- January 24 - Arnold Vanderlyde, Dutch boxer
- January 26 - José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager
- January 26 - Andrew Ridgely, English musician
- January 30 - Thomas Brezina Austrian author
- February 8 - Vince Neil, American musician, Motley Crue
- February 9 - Travis Tritt, American singer
- February 11 - Diane Franklin, American actress
- February 11 - Todd Benzinger, baseball player
- February 17 - Michael Jordan, American basketball player
- February 19 - Seal, English singer
- February 20 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
- February 21 - William Baldwin, American actor
- February 22 - Vijay Singh, Fiji golfer

March-April


- March 1 - Dan Michaels, American record producer and saxophonist (The Choir and The Swirling Eddies)
- March 4 - Jason Newsted, American bassist (Metallica)
- March 6 - D.L. Hughley, American actor and comedian
- March 10 - Neneh Cherry, Swedish musician
- March 12 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
- March 14 - Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
- March 17 - Michael Ivins, American bassist (The Flaming Lips)
- March 18 - Vanessa L. Williams, American beauty queen, actress, and singer
- March 20 - Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach
- March 20 - Kathy Ireland, American model and actress
- March 21 - Ronald Koeman, Dutch football player and manager
- March 23 - Kyogoku Natsuhiko, Japanese writer
- March 27 - Quentin Tarantino, American actor, director, writer, and producer
- March 27 - Xuxa, Brazilian television personality
- April 4 - Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
- April 4 - Graham Norton, Irish talk show host
- April 9 - Joe Scarborough, American newscaster
- April 11 - Chris Ferguson, American poker player
- April 13 - Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player
- April 17 - Joel Murray, American actor
- April 18 - Conan O'Brien, American television entertainer
- April 21 - Ken Caminiti, baseball player (d. 2004)
- April 21 - Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
- April 26 - Jet Li, Chinese martial artist and actor
- April 27 - Cali Timmins, Canadian actress
- April 30 - Michael Waltrip, American race car driver

May-August


- May 9 - Barry Douglas Lamb, English musician, author, and preacher
- May 11 - Natasha Richardson, English-born actress
- May 12 - Vanessa A. Williams, American actress
- May 16 - Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician
- May 23 - Wally Dallenbach Jr., American race car driver and announcer
- May 24 - Joe Dumars, American basketball player
- May 25 - Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian
- June 6 - Jason Isaacs, English actor
- June 9 - Johnny Depp, American actor
- June 13 - Bettina Bunge, German tennis player
- June 17 - Greg Kinnear, American actor
- June 18 - Bruce Smith, American football player
- June 23 - Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
- June 25 - George Michael, English singer
- June 27 - Meera Syal, English comedian, writer, singer, and actress
- July 4 - Christopher George Kennedy , son of Robert F.Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy
- July 16 - Phoebe Cates, American actress
- July 24 - Karl Malone, American basketball player
- July 30 - Lisa Kudrow, American actress
- August 3 - James Hetfield, American singer (Metallica)
- August 6 - Kevin Mitnick, computer hacker
- August 9 - Whitney Houston, American singer
- August 19 - Joey Tempest, Swedish singer (Europe)
- August 19 - John Stamos, American actor
- August 22 - Tori Amos, American singer
- August 23 - Hans-Henning Fastrich, German field hockey player
- August 23 - Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
- August 24 - Hideo Kojima, Japanese video game director
- August 30 - Paul Oakenfold, British disc jockey

September-December


- September 6 - Geert Wilders, Dutch politician
- September 9 - Lauren Allen, American Porn Star,Adult Model
- September 10 - Randy Johnson, baseball player
- September 18 - Rob Brettle, English historian
- September 21 - Cecil Fielder, baseball player
- September 23 - Jackie Pearcey, English politician
- September 29 - Dave Andreychuk, Canadian hockey player
- September 29 - Les Claypool, American bassist and singer (Primus)
- October 1 - Mark McGwire, baseball player
- October 3 - Tommy Lee, American musician, Motley Crue
- October 10 - Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer (d. 2003)
- October 10 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist (d. 2002)
- October 10 - Jolanda de Rover, Dutch swimmer
- October 22 - Brian Boitano, American figure skater
- October 26 - Natalie Merchant, American singer, songwriter, and musician
- October 30 - Kristina Wagner, American actress
- October 31 - Fred McGriff, baseball player
- November 1 - Rick Allen, British musician (Def Leppa