Year retrospective · 1960s

1962

1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1962nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 962nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 62nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1960s decade.

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Notable births

Notable deaths

Decade

1960s

Defining moment · 1962

The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.

The Century 21 Exposition was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington, United States. Nearly 10 million people attended the fair during its six-month run.

See april 21 in detail

Timeline

Defining events of 1962

1962 The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.

World's fair held in Seattle, Washington

The Century 21 Exposition was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington, United States. Nearly 10 million people attended the fair during its six-month run.
1962 NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.

American space and aeronautics agency

S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program and for research in aeronautics and space. S.
1962 The British space programme launches its first satellite, the Ariel 1.

Official efforts to develop space capabilities

The British space programme is the British government's work to develop British space capabilities.
1962 Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.

1962 Soviet manned spaceflights into low Earth orbit

Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 were Soviet space program flights in August 1962, intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessness, test the ground control capability to launch and manage two separate, concurrent flights, and test the endurance of the Vostok 3KA spacecraft over longer flights. Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev orbited the Earth 64 times in Vostok 3 over nearly four days in space, August 11–15, 1962, a feat which would not be matched by NASA until the Gemini program (1965–1966). Pavel Popovich was launched on Vostok 4 on August 12, and made 48 Earth orbits.
1962 James Joseph Dresnok defects to North Korea after running across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Dresnok died in 2016.

American defector to North Korea (1941–2016)

S. soldiers to defect after the Korean War.
1962 Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.

18 year old German bricklayer killed crossing the Berlin wall in 1962

Peter Fechter was an East German bricklayer who became the twenty-seventh known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Fechter was 18 years old when he was shot and killed by East German border guards while trying to cross over to West Berlin.
1962 The NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.
1962 The OAS attempts to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle.
1962 The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.
1962 Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since World War II and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.