Date in year · 1961 · The 1960s

May 19, 1961

On May 19, 1961, venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). The year's #1 song was "Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis. Jane Leeves, John Podhoretz, Don Mattingly would arrive in the same year.

Events

2

Births

0

Deaths

0

Year

1961

1960s

Around 1961

The year in brief

1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1961st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 961st year of the 2nd millennium, the 61st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1960s decade.

Read the full year of 1961 →

What happened

On May 19, 1961

  1. 1961 Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).

    Soviet program that explored Venus with multiple probes

    The Venera program was a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus. A total of eighteen probes were sent, including two related Vega probes.

  2. 1961 At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.

    City in Assam, India

    Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is second largest city of Assam after Guwahati in terms of population and GDP. It is located 343 kilometres south east of Guwahati.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1961

The class of 1961

Others born in 1961

Jane Leeves 1961– English actress and dancer
John Podhoretz 1961– American journalist and author
Don Mattingly 1961– American baseball player, coach, and manager
Konstantin Lavronenko 1961– Russian actor
David Servan-Schreiber 1961– French physician, neuroscientist, and author (died 2011)
Jeff Hostetler 1961– American football player

Step through

Nearby

Keep going

More to explore