What were the major historical events in 1961?

1. On February 15, 1961, a Belgian Airlines Boeing 707 jet crashed near Brussels Airport on its way back from New York. All 72 people on board were killed, including the United States There were 49 people, and a farmer who was working in the fields was also killed in the plane crash.

Among the passengers were 18 U.S. figure skaters traveling to Prague to compete in the World Figure Skating Championships. The plane circled 600 feet above the airport twice with no visible malfunction, but then suddenly crashed and burst into flames while descending at 70 degrees.

2. At 9:07 a.m. Moscow time on April 12, 1961, Gagarin took the Vostok 1 spacecraft and set sail from the Baiknur launch site at an orbit with a maximum altitude of 301 kilometers. It circled the Earth once, lasting 1 hour and 48 minutes, and returned safely at 10:55 am.

It landed in the village of Smelovka in Saratov Region, completing the world's first manned space flight and realizing mankind's desire to enter space. The Vostok 1 spacecraft he piloted became the world's first manned spacecraft into outer space. During his 108-minute flight, Gagarin was promoted from captain to major.

3. On June 17, 1961, Chinese female mountaineers Xirao (Tibetan) and Panduo (Tibetan) climbed to the summit of Gonggar Jiubie Peak at an altitude of 7,595 meters in Xinjiang, breaking the record for women’s mountaineering height world record.

4. July 11, 1961 - Zhou Enlai and Kim Il Sung signed the "China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance" in Beijing. The core of this treaty is military mutual assistance. Article 2 of the treaty stipulates: The contracting parties undertake to jointly take all measures to prevent aggression by any country against either of the contracting parties.

Once one of the contracting parties is attacked by an armed attack by any country or a combination of several countries and is therefore in a state of war, the other contracting party shall immediately do its best to provide military and other assistance.

5. December 16, 1961 - The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress made a decision to grant amnesty to war criminals from the Chiang Kai-shek clique and the puppet Manchukuo who had truly changed their evil ways. Liu Shaoqi, Chairman of the People's Republic of China, issued an amnesty order.

The amnesty released 68 war criminals who had truly changed their ways from evil to good, including 61 war criminals who originally belonged to Chiang Kai-shek's clan and 7 war criminals who belonged to the puppet Manchukuo. Among the 68 war criminals, there are 32 general-level officers.

Baidu Encyclopedia - 1961

Baidu Encyclopedia - Yuri Gagarin