Lt. Col. John Glenn Jr. becomes the first American in orbit when he circles the earth three times in the Mercury capsule Friendship 7.  The U.S. spacecraft Ranger 3 goes off course, missing the moon by 20,000 miles and Ranger 4 crashes on the moon's dark side.  Telstar, the first telecommunications satellite, is put into orbit and the its signals are beamed from the US to France.  The spacecraft Mariner II is launched towards Venus, sends back the 1st close-up pictures of the planet and reveals the existence of solar "winds".  Russia launches the first unmanned spacecraft to Mars.  Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn within 16º.

Cuban Missile Crisis occurs when Soviet offensive missile build-up is discovered. Crisis averted when President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Krushchev reach an agreement to remove missiles.  Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, Algeria and Trinidad and Tobago become independent.  The US commitment to Vietnam grows as troop strength  increases to 8,000 men and US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam with Agent Orange to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas.  Us troops also sent to Thailand and Laos.  

The World's Fair is held in Seattle, WA. Construction begins on the twin towers of the World Trade Center.  On July 2, 1962, Sam Walton at the age of 44, opened his first Wal-Mart store, in Rogers, Ark.  Polaroid introduces color film prints which develop in 60 seconds.  Texas computer salesman H. Ross Perot forms a computer company called Electronic Data Systems (EDS)  K-Mart opens.  1st VISA card introduced

In Great Britain the Atlas computer at the University of Manchester (the first machine to use virtual memory and paging) became operational.   Douglas Engelbart invents the mouse pointing device for computers.   "On-Line Man Computer Communications" written by J.Licklider & W.Clark dealt with Galactic Network concept encompassing distributed social interactions (source: Hobbes' Internet Timeline) The first industrial robots are produced by Unimation.  IBM launches SABRE, the first commercial network which is installed at American Airlines to facilitate its reservation process connecting 1000 tellers into the system.

The drug thalidomide is recalled when it becomes linked with severe birth defects in thousands of children worldwide.  The first reattachment of a human limb is performed at Massachusetts General Hospital.  James D. Watson (US), Maurice H. F. Wilkins, and Francis H. C. Crick (both UK), win Nobel Science Prize in Physiology or Medicine for determining structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). 

US GDP (1998 dollars): $585.2 billion; Federal spending: $106.82 billion; Federal debt: $302.9 billion Consumer Price Index: 30.2; Unemployment: 6.7%; Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.04; US Population: 186,537,737

Gary Powers is released in exchange for a Russian spy.  Adolf Eichmann is executed for Nazi war crimes.  Linus Pauling wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign against atmospheric nuclear testing.  James H. Meredith, escorted by federal marshals, registers at University of Mississippi.   William Faulkner, Ernie Kovacs, Eleanor Roosevelt die.  Edward M Kennedy 1st elected Senator (D-MA)

IN THE ARTS: 

IN SPORTS:  
MLB: New York Yankees     NFL: Green Bay Packers     NBA: Boston Celtics
NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs     NCAA-Basketball: Cincinnati     World Cup: Brazil
KY Derby: Decidedly     U.S. Golf Open: Jack Nicklaus     US Women's Golf Open: Murie Lindstrom 
U.S. Open Tennis (Men): Rod Laver     U.S. Open Tennis (Women): Margaret Smith
Sonny Liston beats Floyd Patterson to become World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Ground is broken for the Houston Astrodome  Mickey Mantle hits his 379th HR
Jackie Robinson 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame  Hank Aaron hits 500th HR