1961-1965
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May 5th,1961- Alan Shepard Jr. was the first American to travel to space. He used the Freedom 7 spacecraft to go into the galaxy. He was in a project called Mercury with Freedom 7. The point of this project was to try bringing an astronaut to orbit Earth. This mission was only a 15 minute process but a memorable event in American Space history.
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February 20th, 1962- John Glenn was sent into outer space to orbit the Earth. This was done for various reasons, but one of the main reasons was observe his reactions. There were many things that the astronaut had to meet in order to go up and Glenn was fit to go. He was also known as one of the best test pilots of the country. He was trained for 3 years and in February of 1962, he was sent to orbit the Earth. He did it three times in 4 hours and 56 minutes!
Summary- This was on February 20th 1962 when John Glenn launched into space. His mission was to orbit Earth. He successfully went and safely came back as well. He orbited Earth three times not getting a harm in his health. This orbiting took 4 hours and 56 minutes in total and John Glenn became the best test pilots of the country.
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April 23rd, 1962- On this date the first US Satellite was launched to reach the moon. Ranger 4, the name of this US Satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and its mission was to land on the moon safely. In just three days, is did become the first US Satellite to reach the moon, but a disaster happened and it didn't last so long before it crashed. As soon as it touched the moon's surface, it had crashed and no longer stayed up in space. But, it did become the first US satellite to reach the surface of the moon.
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February 10th, 1963- Lorraine Hanlon was an American figure skater from Boston, Massachusetts. On February 10th, 1963, she became the US National Champion making the American Figure skating very proud. She was invited to the World's Figure Skating Championship and really did want to go, though couldn't because her school didn't allow her to. She then retired from ice skating, she went into the medical field as a anesthesiologist who is a physician trained to work with anesthesia. Then, 20 years later, she went into pharmaceutical field working with medicine. She was very talented, doing 3 different fields of her desired career and is still known as an amazing figure skater today.
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August 28th, 1963- Martin Luther King delivers his very famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Starting 1960, MLK gave speeches only referring to the American Dream. His dream was basically that all men were create equal so everyone should be treated the same and not depending on their race or skin color. MLK had lived in a life where there was segregation and he tried to end that. He did many boycotts and marches to prove what he wanted was right. The "I Have a Dream" speech was one of his most famous speeches explaining all of that.
Summary- Lorraine G. Hanlon wins the hearts of all her fans as she ice skates. She was talented in many things including the medical field. She did win the National Championship for the US with this performance. Although, she did retire from ice skating, she still remains a very big part of history and a role model to many figure skaters today.
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January of 1964- After winning the challenge of developing the World Trade Center (WTC), Port Authority makes a big change to NYC. Then, the WTC makes an architectural plan to build the WTC. It was going to be included in the " World's Tallest Buildings" group. On March 21st, 1966 construction begins for the WTC. in October of 1970, the North Tower is taller than the Empire State Building!
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March 27th, 1964- In Alaska, a major earthquake had occurred and is still remembered today by many people around the world. Known as the Great Alaska Earthquake, it had a magnitude of 9.2! This earthquake had happened at 5:36 P.M. damaging about 130,000 square kilometers. It is actually ranked as the second most largest earthquake though Chile beat it having a magnitude of 9.5! With the earthquake, a tsunami also happened because ocean was nearby. Seismic waves were traveled all around the world. We still think of the people that survived this major earthquake.
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March 7th, 1965- On this day, almost 600 people march from Selma to Montgomery for their voting rights. The march is led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams and they were willing to march. This march was actually to end discrimination to voting rights basically. Though, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, local state policemen came and started creating violence. The attacked the marches spraying tear gas in the air and that day became "Bloody Sunday".