Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, on 12 April 1961, became the first man to travel in space by completing one orbit around Earth in his capsule Vostok 1.

The famous “I Have a Dream” public speech was delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights activist and Baptist minister, on 28 August 1963 in Washington D.C.

OPEC, The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, was formed on 14 September 1960 initially by five countries, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

Rhodesia declared its independence from Britain in 1965. It officially named itself The Republic of Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980, and the Zimbabwean dollar replaced the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.

On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step on the moon, six and half hours after they landed on the moon at the "sea of tranquility".

Nelson Mandela, who led the movement in South Africa in a bid to end apartheid, was sentenced to life in June 1964. He served 27 years in prison.

On 20 October 1961, Russia performed the first armed test in which it launched a submarine-launched ballistic missile named R-13 from a Golf-class submarine.

On 17 June 1967, China became the fourth thermonuclear power of the world (after the United States, Soviet Union, and the U.K.) after successfully testing its first hydrogen bomb.

Allen K. Breed, in 1968 was successful in inventing a ball-in-tube mechanism that was instrumental in detecting crashes and led to the invention of automated airbags for vehicles.

The 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was assassinated on 22 November 1963 in Dallas when his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza.