What Happened in 1969 — Events, Births & Deaths

The Venera 5 space probe is launched at 06:28:08 UTC from Baikonur.

Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes in Fernhill, West Sussex, UK, while on approach to Gatwick Airport, killing 50 people.

Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashes in Lafayette Township, McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States, killing 11.

The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.

USS Enterprise fire: An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 28 people.

The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.

Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.

Space Race: Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of crewed spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.

Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.

United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members.

Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.

Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.

The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.

American aquanaut Berry L. Cannon dies of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair a leak in the SEALAB III underwater habitat. The SEALAB project was subsequently abandoned.

The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted.

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.

In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant.

Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.

A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155.

Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.

The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam.

The 385-metre-tall (1,263 ft) TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.

A United Arab Airlines (now Egyptair) Ilyushin Il-18 crashes at Aswan International Airport, killing 100 people.

Greek poet and Nobel Prize laureate Giorgos Seferis makes a famous statement on the BBC World Service opposing the junta in Greece.

The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force.

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 crashes into the Polica mountain near Zawoja, Poland, killing 53.

Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.

Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

The Internet's symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.

The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford with Brian Trubshaw as the test pilot.

The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.

Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.

British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.

The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta.

Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks.

Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.

In the aftermath of the 1969 Malaysian general election, Sino-Malay sectarian violence erupts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.

Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.

Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.

The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.

Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.

Apollo 10's Lunar Module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the Moon's surface.

Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first crewed Moon landing.

Melbourne-Evans collision: Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half, resulting in 74 deaths.

The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.

IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry.

Stonewall riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement.

The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission is launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida, USA.

Chappaquiddick incident: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy crashes his car into a tidal pond at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.

Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.

A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War".

Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the "Vietnamization" of the war.

Vietnam War: U.S. president Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.

Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuân Thuỷ begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.

The Lonesome Cowboys police raid occurs in Atlanta, Georgia, leading to the creation of the Georgia Gay Liberation Front.

Richard Nixon appoints Luis R. Bruce, a Mohawk-Oglala Sioux and co-founder of the National Congress of American Indians, as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road.

Tate–LaBianca murders: Followers of Charles Manson murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men's hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.

A day after murdering actress Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon.

Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.

The Apollo 11 astronauts enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York City. That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland as political and sectarian violence breaks out, marking the start of the 37-year Operation Banner.

The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in Bethel, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.

Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.

Aeroflot Flight 1770 crashes while landing at Vnukovo International Airport, killing 16.

A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power.

Mỹ Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.

In Canada, the Official Languages Act comes into force, making French equal to English throughout the Federal government.

Allegheny Airlines Flight 863 collides in mid-air with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Moral Township, Shelby County, Indiana, killing all 83 people on board both aircraft.

Philippine Air Lines Flight 158 crashes in Antipolo, near Manila International Airport in the Philippines, killing 45 people.

Mexicana de Aviación Flight 801, a Boeing 727-100 passenger plane, crashes during a landing attempt in Mexico City, killing 27 of the 118 occupants.

The charter establishing the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is signed.

Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.

The opening rally of the Days of Rage occurs, organized by the Weather Underground in Chicago.

In Chicago, the National Guard is called in as demonstrations continue over the trial of the "Chicago Eight".

The Caravaggio painting Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence is stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo.

The 1969 Somali coup d'état establishes a Marxist–Leninist administration.

The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.

Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.

National Educational Television (the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States debuts Sesame Street.

Vietnam War: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai Massacre.

Vietnam War: Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. stage a symbolic March Against Death.

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12, the second crewed mission to the surface of the Moon.

Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.

Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000–500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".

Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, Finland to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.

Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.

Association football player Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.

Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.

Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seize control of Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.

U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Satō agree on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. The U.S. retains rights to bases on the island, but these are to be nuclear-free.

The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI.

Apollo program: The Apollo 12 command module splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second crewed mission to land on the Moon.

Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.

Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.

Altamont Free Concert: At a free concert performed by the Rolling Stones, eighteen-year old Meredith Hunter is stabbed to death by Hells Angels security guards.

Olympic Airways Flight 954 strikes a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90 people in the worst crash of a Douglas DC-6 in history.

U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers proposes his plan for a ceasefire in the War of Attrition; Egypt and Jordan accept it over the objections of the PLO, which leads to civil war in Jordan in September 1970.

The Piazza Fontana bombing; a bomb explodes at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs are detonated in Rome and Milan, and another is found unexploded.

Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.

Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.

Felix Baumgartner, Austrian daredevil (died 2025)

Will Hodgman, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Tasmania

David Barnhill, Australian rugby league player

Dragiša Cvetković, Serbian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (born 1893)