- **January 8:** Pravda reports that citizens of the USSR who claim to have seen flying saucers are either fools or liars. - **January 10:** A Polaris missile is launched from Cape Canaveral. The missile is on its route when an unidentified object is detected in the area: the object is large enough and maneuvers so close to the Polaris that the ground automatic radar detection, programmed to follow the missile, mistakenly locks onto the other object, which eventually leaves the radar detection range. It takes 14 minutes to lock back onto the Polaris [\[Keyhoe 1967\]]{.source}. - **January 19:** Statement from the [USAF](USAF.html) following the wave of sightings: - Not a single fragment of a saucer or spaceship. - **February** - **February 2:** Turin devices record the sound of a beating heart and a labored breath. A cardiogram is traced by the famous cardiologist Doglioti. - **February 7:** Soviet authorities announce the disintegration of *Sputnik 7*. - **February 12:** Launch of *Venera 1* towards [Venus](Venus.html). - **February 17:** A man and a woman are launched from the Baikonur base, on the shores of the Aral Sea. The woman cries out: I'm going to catch it and hold it in my right hand! Look out the porthole! Look out the porthole! I got it... The first woman in space must have taken something that was floating near the capsule. But things get complicated by an unexpected event. The man suddenly declares: There it is! There's something there! If we don't come back, the world will never know! It's hard... - 50 Unidentified Flying Objects are detected on the [NATO](NATO.html) radar, moving in formation from the Soviet Union towards Europe, at an altitude of nearly 3000 m, then disappearing 9 minutes later. - Acting on the recommendations of the *Joint Study Group*, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara notified the [JCS](JCS.html) in February [1961](1961.html) of his decision to establish a [Defense Intelligence Agency](DIA.html) and charged it with developing a concept plan that would integrate the military intelligence efforts of all elements of the [DoD](DoD.html). - **February 27:** Observation at Bark River (Michigan) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7284 unsolved]]{.source}. - Crash of a 30 m disk in Timmensdorfer, near the Baltic Sea (Germany). The British army arrives first on the scene and establishes a security perimeter. The aircraft is not destroyed, because it landed on a soft and gentle terrain, although a third is buried. 12 small bodies are found inside, similar to the description of the [Gris](glossair.html#Gris). - Construction of the MIB Headquarters under New York. - **Spring, late evening**: In Millville (New Jersey), two flirting witnesses in a car parked in a discreet location observe a nocturnal light: What caught my attention was the way the light moved\... it shone without emitting any sound. It was much brighter than any star in the sky\... As it moved slowly towards the North, I first thought it was a weather balloon reflecting the light of the Sun. Only balloons don't stop, don't change direction, don't do reverse\... Both of us watched the thing's gambols\... Finally, after 5 good minutes, from where it was, far to the South, it went straight to the North, it disappeared in about 5 seconds. I know, I timed it. The observation lasted in total 7 minutes [\[[Poher](PoherClaude.html) 2003\]]{.source}. - **April** "- **April 12**" - The crew of the motorized fishing vessel *Santa Ameria* observed a bright red spherical body moving in a south-southeast to north-northwest trajectory. The object was seen descending, displaying purple/orange rings and emitting small rainbows. As it descended, the object seemed to become larger. The front of the object touched the surface of the water for a moment. A few minutes after the first observation, a second lenticular-shaped object followed the trajectory of the first. During the descent of the objects, a red wake was observed. [Possible meteor](Meteore.html). [[Inquiry of E. Morricone of 18/07/1979; AAVV *Ufo in Italia*, vol. 3, ed. Upiar, p. 67; electronic archive [CUN](CUN.html) April 2002]]{.source} - Yuri Gagarin was the first man launched into space, aboard *Vostok 1*. He spent 108 minutes in flight, at an altitude of 327 km. - **April 17:** "Bay of Pigs" in Cuba. - **April 18th, 11am:** Joe Simonton, a farmer from Wisconsin, hears a noise outside his house and notices a curious chrome-colored craft hovering close to the ground. As he approaches, he sees through an opening 3 figures with tanned skin and black hair. One is busy with the controls of a dashboard, while the other seems to be cooking something on a flame-less stove. Having spotted Simonton, one of the creatures hands him a kind of bucket, gesturing that it wants water. The farmer complies. As a thank you, and since Simonton shows interest in what is being cooked, the pilot of the craft gives him 4 cakes. Finally, the hatch closes and the craft flies south, causing a gust of wind that bends the trees. The observation lasted 5 minutes, no more. Simonton eats one of the cakes and finds it tastes like cardboard. The [USAF](USAF.html) has one of the cakes analyzed --- as part of the official UFO study program --- and the report concludes that the ingredients do not come from another planet, and that the farmer must have been daydreaming. - **April 24:** Observation in the Pacific (35'-50' North, 125' 40' West) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7284 unsolved]]{.source}. - **April 25:** Generals' putsch in Algiers. - **April 27, mid-day** : [Photograph of Pescara](1961-04-27_Pescara.html) (Italy). - **April 28th, 8am:** In Karelia (USSR), a forest guard, Vassili Brodski, noticed an enormous pit (27m long, 15m wide and 3m deep) leading to the frozen lake of Korb, on the south cliff side, as if it had been breached, and which had not been there the night before at 9pm. The loggers of the region had seen nothing, heard nothing. A striking object seemed to have dug the cliff, the ice and the bottom of the lake, creating a 1000m^3^ pit swallowing the frozen ground, pushing the ice into the bottom and advancing 20m on the bottom pushing a 1.5m ridge of muddy earth and then coming out in reverse. The object was not seen but left fragments of many metals. The broken ice pieces were of an emerald green whose nature and origin no analysis could explain. Strange black grains collected on the shore revealed a metallic chemical composition so complex that it could only be obtained by operations at very high temperatures; they resisted the action of acids. It was concluded that these grains had a non-organic and probably non-natural origin. Since then, the vegetation inside the pit is inexplicably lush but, in spite of so many enigmas, the research was not pursued, because the phenomenon is not dangerous to man. - **May** - [John Kennedy](KennedyJohnFitzgerald.html) announces to the American Congress that the United States must commit to, before the end of the decade, landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth. - **May 3:** Shepard's suborbital flight (15 min). - **May 18:** We pick up messages from 3 cosmonauts: 2 men and 1 woman. The men are called Chibotine and Dolgov, although one of them has a voice remarkably similar to Gagarin's. Still in line with our plans\... according to instructions\... Why do we have to stay? asks one of them. Please, be more careful\... But everything has been checked!\..., comments the other. The requests and responses all concern technical objects and seem "feverish". - **May 22:** Observation at the [USAF](USAF.html) base in Tyndall (Florida) [\[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7417 unsolved\]]{.source} - **May 25:** [Kennedy](KennedyJohnFitzgerald.html) launches the [Apollo](Apollo.html) program. - **Spring:** Observation in Kemah (Texas) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7321 unsolved]]{.source} - **June 2:** Observation at the Miyako Jima air station (Japan) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7437 unsolved]]{.source} - **July** - **July 7:** Observation at Copemiah (Michigan) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7491 unsolved]]{.source} - **July 11:** Sighting in Springfield (Ohio) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7499 unsolved]]{.source} - The [ATIC](ATIC.html) becomes the [FTD](FTD.html). - The [JCS](JCS.html) completes the design work of the [DIA](DIA.html). - **July 20:** Sighting in Houston (Texas) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7510 unsolved]]{.source} - **August** - **August 1st:** The [JCS](JCS.html) publishes the directive [DoD](DoD.html) 5105.21, *[Defense Intelligence Agency](DIA.html).* - **August 7:** Titov completes 17 revolutions aboard *Vostok* 2. - In Siberia, 4 men are in charge of postal delivery by plane. The plane does not arrive at one of its usual stops. The plane is found 2 days later, on the ground. Everything is in order on board. The tank still contains enough fuel for 2 hours of flight and the engine works perfectly. No trace of the 4 occupants is found. At a distance of about 100 m, a large, clearly defined circle is discovered, inside of which the grass is scorched and the ground is sunken. - **August 11:** The new restricted airspace R-4808 becomes effective, covering the Test Site and [Groom Lake](Area51.html). Use is restricted from the ground to FL600. The restricted airspace above Groom Lake remains at a size of 5 [nautical miles](unites.html#NM) by 9 [\[Federal Register\]]{.source} (26 FR 6233). "- **August 12**" - Observation in Kansas City (Kansas) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7579 unsolved]]{.source}. - Construction of the Berlin Wall. - **September** - An electronic device attached to a parachute lands on the roof of a house. Launched 2 years ago, it was supposed to explode 2 days later, reaching 30 km in altitude. - **September 19:** Abduction of [Betty and Barney Hill](1961-09-19_Hill.html). - **September 21:** Two commercial airliners, one American and the other British, fly over the Pacific and independently observe a huge round craft flying over them at a phenomenal speed [\[Keyhoe 1967\]]{.source}. - **October** - **1st October:** The [DIA](DIA.html) becomes operational. - High-ranking military personnel at the [Pentagon](Pentagone.html) decide to place a crown of copper needles in orbit around the Earth. These millions of tiny needles were to reflect radio signals back to Earth and facilitate military communications, thus shielded from any interference. But such an accomplishment seriously compromised radio astronomy for several centuries. The presence of these millions of needles could therefore have disastrous consequences denounced by many scientists around the world and yet the project received government approval. - **October 14:** Messages from cosmonauts are suddenly intercepted, then abruptly cut off. - **October 20:** The two Italian wireless operators pick up a faint voice rambling incomprehensible words. They manage to make out his name: Lodovsky. - **October 21:** The Americans place a spy satellite, *Midas 4*, carrying 350 million copper needles, in a polar orbit 3500 km from [Earth](Earth.html). Immediately after separation from the rocket, the cloud of small copper needles disperses and begins to form an artificial ring, which will have astonishing repercussions, as in February [1950](1950.html): normal radio emissions are disturbed or mysteriously disappear. Then the incredible happens. On the radar screens, an enormous unknown object bursts in and, according to McCarty himself: Like a gigantic vacuum cleaner, it cleaned these skies in a few minutes of these needles. Despite this overwhelming event, a second shipment of needles will take place and the same phenomenon will occur. Millions of small needles are absorbed by an unknown phenomenon. - **October 27:** Launch of the Saturn 1 rocket. - **November** - [Frank Drake](DrakeFrankD.html) organizes, with J. Peter Pearman, an officer of the *Space Science Board* of the [NAS](NAS.html), the first conference on the [SETI](SETI.html) project. The 3-day meeting, held at the [NRAO](NRAO.html), brings together a dozen scientists who have shown an interest in [SETI](SETI.html). It is there that [Drake](DrakeFrankD.html) proposes his famous equation, which proposes the theoretical calculation of the number of "communicating" civilizations in our galaxy. - Creation of projects [Moon Dust](MoonDust.html) and [Blue Fly](projets.html#BlueFly). - Meeting of [Paul Miller](temoins.html#MillerPaul) and 3 of his friends in Minot (North Dakota). - [Wilbert B. Smith](SmithWilbertBrooker.html) wrote: I showed Admiral [Knowles](militaires.html#Knowles) the small fragment of flying saucer that the [US Air Force](USAF.html) had kindly lent me in July 1952. - **November 21:** Sighting in Oldtown (Florida) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7741 unsolved]]{.source}. - **November 23:** Sighting in Sioux City (Iowa) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7742 unsolved]]{.source}. - **December 13:** Sighting in Washington (D. C.) [[case [Blue Book](BlueBook.html) #7754 unsolved]]{.source}. - **End of Year:** USAF Colonel Robert J. Holbury is appointed commander of Groom Lake [Base](Area51.html) [\[McIninch\]]{.source}. - American radio astronomers, Burke and Franklin, from the Carnegie Institute, detect a transmitting source coming from [Jupiter](Jupiter.html) that emits ordered, perfectly rhythmic messages. But it quickly falls silent.