WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1969
Find out what all happened January to December 1969

The Cuyahoga River catches fire, triggering a crack-down on pollution in the river. (22. June 1969)

The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the Royal Air Force. (1. April 1969)

Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks. (9. May 1969)

Football War: after Honduras loses a soccer match against El Salvador, riots break out in Honduras against Salvadoran migrant workers. (14. July 1969)

British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world. (22. April 1969)

The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police. (30. January 1969)

Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers. (4. December 1969)

Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers). (5. August 1969)

United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members. (18. January 1969)

Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched. (18. May 1969)

In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress. (3. February 1969)

Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort. (3. April 1969)

Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module. (13. March 1969)

Tran Thien Khiem becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyen Van Thieu. (1. September 1969)

An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 27 people. (14. January 1969)

Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs. (17. December 1969)

Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill. (10. May 1969)

The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board. (15. April 1969)

The United Kingdom introduces the British fifty-pence coin, which replaces, over the following years, the British ten-shilling note, in anticipation of the decimalization of the British currency in 1971, and the abolition of the shilling as a unit of currency anywhere in the world. (14. October 1969)