WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1962
Find out what all happened January to December 1962

Vietnam War: Operation Chopper, the first American combat mission in the war, takes place. (12. January 1962)

Nuclear weapons testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada National Security Site. (17. July 1962)

Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa. (1. January 1962)

Cuban Missile Crisis: US President John F. Kennedy, after internal counsel from Dwight D. Eisenhower, announces that American reconnaissance planes have discovered Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that he has ordered a naval "quarantine" of the Communist nation. (22. October 1962)

Alouette 1, the first Canadian satellite, is launched. (29. September 1962)

Archaeologist Peter Marsden discovers the first of the Blackfriars Ships dating back to the 2nd century AD in the Blackfriars area of the banks of the River Thames in London. (6. September 1962)

The Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You", is released in the United Kingdom. (5. October 1962)

Independence of Burundi. (1. July 1962)

Uganda joins the United Nations. (25. October 1962)

Kuwait's National Assembly ratifies the Constitution of Kuwait. (11. November 1962)

The West Indies Federation dissolves. (31. May 1962)

Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile. (27. October 1962)

Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages (12. October 1962)

Algeria becomes independent from France. (5. July 1962)

Ranger program: Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km). (26. January 1962)

Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro. (3. January 1962)

Independence of Rwanda. (1. July 1962)

In a test of the Nike-Hercules air defense missile, Shot Dominic-Tightrope is successfully detonated 69,000 feet above Johnston Island. It would also be the last atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States. (4. November 1962)

The Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting concludes, among other things, that the British public did not want commercial radio broadcasting. (1. June 1962)

The North Yemen Civil War begins when Abdullah as-Sallal dethrones the newly crowned Imam al-Badr and declares Yemen a republic under his presidency. (25. September 1962)