Date in year · 1963 · The 1960s

October 18, 1963

On October 18, 1963, félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space. The year's #1 song was "Surfin' U.S.A." by The Beach Boys. Garry Kasparov, Conan O'Brien, Rachel Whiteread would arrive in the same year.

Events

1

Births

0

Deaths

0

Year

1963

1960s

Around 1963

The year in brief

1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1963rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 963rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 63rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1960s decade.

Read the full year of 1963 →

What happened

On October 18, 1963

  1. 1963 Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space.

    Only cat launched into space

    Félicette was a Parisian cat that became the first feline launched into space on 18 October 1963 as part of the French space program. She was one of 14 female cats trained for spaceflight. The cats had electrodes implanted into their skulls to monitor their neurological activity throughout the flight.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1963

The class of 1963

Others born in 1963

Garry Kasparov 1963– Russian chess player and author
Conan O'Brien 1963– American television host, comedian, and writer
Rachel Whiteread 1963– English sculptor
Ken Caminiti 1963– American baseball player (died 2004)
Rosalind Gill 1963– English sociologist and academic
Sean Lock 1963– English comedian and actor (died 2021)

Step through

Nearby

Keep going

More to explore