1960s Timeline

Feb. 20, 1962 - The United States Marine Corps threw out its chest with pride and admiration today over the successful orbiting of Marine...

Feb. 20, 1962 - About 20 minutes after he had soared aloft, Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. had his first snack in space. The Mercury...

Feb. 20, 1962 - John H. Glenn Jr. orbited three times around the earth today and landed safely to become the first American to make such...

Feb. 19, 1962 - The prospects for sending Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. into orbit tomorrow seem better than they have for a week. The...

Feb. 14, 1962 - Storms in the Atlantic caused another postponement today in the attempt to send Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr. into orbit...

Jan. 28, 1962 - “The Race to Space” is a documentary which chronicles some of the space accomplishments of the past year. #nasa...

Jan. 26, 1962 - Senator Paul H. Douglas (pictured second from left in 1958) said today that he and many astronomers question the wisdom...

Jan. 26, 1962 - An attempt to send the Ranger 3, a complex 727-pound spacecraft, to take close-up television pictures of the moon failed...

Jan. 22, 1962 - An attempt to rocket John H. Glenn Jr. into orbit was postponed today from Wednesday to Saturday at the earliest. The...

Jan. 4, 1962 - Lieut. Col. John H. Glenn Jr., who is scheduled to attempt an orbital flight later this month, was the subject of an ABC...

Nov. 29, 1961 - A male chimpanzee named Enos flew two 17,500-mile-an-hour orbits around the earth today. The flight, in a Project Mercury...

Nov. 28, 1961 - President Kennedy awarded the Harmon International Trophy for Aviators today to three test pilots of the X-15 rocket...

Nov. 28, 1961 - A 37-pound chimpanzee named Enos was chosen today to make a 3-orbit trip around the eaerth tomorrow. It is to be the last...

Nov. 12, 1961 - United States hopes for sending a man into orbit this year apparently ended today when a flight with a chimpanzee was...

Oct. 27, 1961 - The United States space program took a large leap forward today when an eight-engine Saturn rocket was successfully fired...

Oct. 7, 1961 - Space scientists forecast today that the cost of a round trip to Mars in 1980 would be $1 million. The cost for a person...

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...