Until 2012, only two people had been to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, six times fewer than had walked on the Moon.
Piccard and Walsh dived in 1960; twelve astronauts walked on the Moon in 1969–1972.
The events
- Trieste reaches the Challenger Deep1960 · Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean. On 23 January 1960 the bathyscaphe Trieste, carrying Swiss Jacques Piccard and American Don Walsh, reached the floor of the Challenger Deep at about 10,916 m. It was designed by the pilot's father, Auguste Piccard. No one went back for 52 years, until director James Cameron in 2012.
- Moon landing1969 · Cape Canaveral. Apollo 11 launched from Cape Canaveral on 16 July 1969, and on 20 July Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the Moon while Michael Collins stayed in orbit. The landing was the climax of the space race.
More amazing facts
- 1959 · 1974 Hiroo Onoda was not the last soldier of World War II. Private Teruo Nakamura held out even longer and was arrested in Indonesia on 18 December 1974.
- 1959 Humanity first saw the far side of the Moon in 1959.
- 1960 In 1960, 17 African countries gained independence — more than in any other single year in history.
- 1960 No camera caught Khrushchev banging his shoe at the UN. On 12 October 1960 a photo shows a shoe on his desk, but whether he pounded it is still debated; biographer William Taubman, after interviewing witnesses, concluded he did.
- 1961 Gagarin flew into space in April 1961; that August, the Berlin Wall went up.
- 1961 A space dog's daughter lived in the White House.