Astronaut John H. Glenn later became a Senator in US Congress and later became the first(?)
politician as well as the oldest person ever to go into space on the Space Shuttle, mission STS-95
Discovery, (Oct. 29 to Nov. 7, 1998).

April 26 - The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.

May 24 - M. Scott Carpenter duplicated Glenn's flight in Aurora 7. Time: 4 hours, 56 minutes.

June 25 - The Supreme Court rules in Engel v. Vitale that prayers in public schools are
unconstitutional.

July 10 - Telstar, the world's first active communications satellite, is launched into orbit.

July 17 - Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric
test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.

July 22 - Mariner program: Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and
had to be destroyed.

July 23 - Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal making worldwide television
and cable networks a reality.

August 5 - Film actress and sex icon, Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her Los Angeles, California
home after apparently overdosing on sleeping pills. Controversy continues to the present day about
the circumstances surrounding her death.

August 6 - Jamaica becomes independent.

September through November - The Cuban Missile Crisis: USSR to build missile bases in Cuba;
Kennedy orders Cuban blockade, lifts blockade after Russia backs down
                  September 2 - Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba.
                  October 14 - Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of
                  Soviet  nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues the next day between
                  the United States and the Soviet Union, putting the entire world under threat of a
                  nuclear war.
                  October 28 - Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the
                  removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
                  November 20 - Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to
                  remove its missiles from Cuba, US President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of
                  the Caribbean nation.

November 7 - Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he
states that this is his "last press conference" and that "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around
any more".

November 29 - An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde
supersonic airliner

October 3 - Walter M. Schirra, Jr., made a six-orbit engineering test flight in Sigma 7. Time: 9
hours, 13 minutes.

December 14 - Mariner II reached Venus and became the first spacecraft to operate in the
immediate vicinity of another planet and return useful scientific information to the Earth. This
milestone was reached after Mariner II was designed and built in a relatively brief 11 months using
proven technology from the Vega, the Ranger lunar series, and the canceled Mariner A.

December 24 - Cuba releases 1,113 prisoners of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion attempt

1962: It was a very good year...for communications.

Date unknown: Pantyhose becomes available for sale in U.S. department stores

Date Unknown: The first breast augmentation surgery is performed. Deemed to be first
undeniable proof there is a God.

World Series: NY Yankees d. San Francisco Giants (4-3)

Memorable Movies: Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Man Who
Shot Liberty Valance, How the West Was Won.

What we watched on Television: The Beverly Hillbillies. Johnny Carson takes over hosting duties
of The Tonight Show.
                  March 16 - Walter Cronkite succeeds Douglas Edwards as anchorman of the CBS
                  Evening News.
                  September - The Jetsons premiered on prime-time television and brought the
                  fantasies of the Space Age into our living rooms.

A million color TV sets was sold this year.

Passings: Eleanor Roosevelt

Births: Jodie Foster, actress and director, November 19.