WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO MAY 1961
Find out what all happened January to May 1961

Algiers putsch by French generals. (23. April 1961)

The DuSable Museum of African American History is chartered. (16. February 1961)

The Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. (5. May 1961)

Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California. (14. February 1961)

The Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa. (31. May 1961)

Cyprus joins the Council of Europe. (24. May 1961)

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a cornerstone of modern international relations, is adopted. (18. April 1961)

American civil rights movement: The Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protesters are beaten by an angry mob. (14. May 1961)

The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections. (29. March 1961)

Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit. (25. April 1961)

American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South. (4. May 1961)

Park Chung-hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea. (16. May 1961)

Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space. (31. January 1961)

Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States. (17. January 1961)

CONCP is founded in Casablanca as a united front of African movements opposing Portuguese colonial rule. (18. April 1961)

The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections. (1. May 1961)

Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus. (12. February 1961)

A core explosion and meltdown at the SL-1, a government-run reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho, kills three workers. (3. January 1961)

South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations. (15. March 1961)

Sabena Flight 548 crashes in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team, several coaches and family members. (15. February 1961)