WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1966
Find out what all happened January to September 1966

Australian currency is decimalised. (14. February 1966)

The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon. (31. March 1966)

The Severn Bridge is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. (8. September 1966)

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year. (4. July 1966)

The French military explodes a nuclear test bomb codenamed Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific. (2. July 1966)

A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people. (4. March 1966)

Vietnam War: The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam. (26. February 1966)

Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police. (1. August 1966)

BOAC Flight 911 crashes on Mount Fuji, Japan, killing 124. (5. March 1966)

The Nigerian First Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d'état. (15. January 1966)

Launch of Surveyor 1 the first US spacecraft to land on an extraterrestrial body. (30. May 1966)

In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin Hafiz, also a Baathist. (23. February 1966)

Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President. (6. July 1966)

An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 destroys Tashkent. (26. April 1966)

Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world. (2. June 1966)

The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program. (31. January 1966)

All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133. (4. February 1966)

Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyen Cao Ky sacked rival General Nguyen Chanh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation. (10. March 1966)

Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. (15. July 1966)

Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested. (16. August 1966)