Contemporary
Valentina Tereshkova (1963): The First Woman in Space
Tereshkova completed 48 orbits of the Earth in almost three days aboard Vostok 6, becoming the first woman to fly in space.
Region
Europe
Contemporary
Elysée Treaty (1963): The Franco-German Friendship Pact
France and West Germany committed themselves to regular summits and ministerial meetings, and created the Franco-German Youth Office, laying the basis for lasting reconciliation.
Contemporary
Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show (1964): Beatlemania in America
An estimated 73 million viewers watched, a record for American television at the time, and the broadcast launched Beatlemania and the British Invasion in the United States.
Contemporary
Alexei Leonov and the First Spacewalk (1965) on Voskhod 2
Leonov became the first person to leave a spacecraft in orbit, and the crew survived a series of dangerous failures to land safely in the Urals.
Contemporary
Notting Hill Carnival: Origins of a London Street Festival
A small neighbourhood fayre with a steel band procession grew into one of the largest street festivals in Europe and a celebration of Caribbean British culture.
Contemporary
Luna 9 (1966): The First Soft Landing on the Moon
Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to land softly on another world and returned panoramic pictures proving the lunar surface could support a landing craft.
Contemporary
Aberfan Disaster (1966): The Colliery Spoil Tip Collapse in Wales
144 people died, including 116 children at Pantglas Junior School; a tribunal blamed the National Coal Board and new laws on tip safety followed.
Contemporary
Sexual Offences Act 1967: Partial Decriminalisation in England
Private homosexual acts between two consenting men aged 21 or over ceased to be crimes in England and Wales, though with strict limits.
Contemporary
Discovery of Pulsars (1967): Jocelyn Bell Burnell's Signal
The first pulsar, now known as PSR B1919+21, was discovered and soon identified as a rapidly rotating neutron star.
Contemporary
Greek Military Junta (1967–1974): The Regime of the Colonels
Seven years of military dictatorship ended after the junta's coup in Cyprus provoked a Turkish invasion; democracy was restored under Konstantinos Karamanlis and the monarchy was abolished.
Contemporary
Torrey Canyon Oil Spill (1967): Britain's Supertanker Disaster
Up to about 119,000 tonnes of crude oil fouled the coasts of Cornwall and Brittany; the disaster led to new international conventions on oil pollution at sea.
Contemporary
Prague Spring (1968): Dubcek's Socialism with a Human Face
The reform movement was ended by a Warsaw Pact invasion; Dubcek was replaced in 1969 and two decades of hardline 'normalisation' followed.