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Born:Clint Malarchuk, Canadian ice hockey player, in Grande Prairie, Alberta
May 2, 1961 (Tuesday)
The training vessel Albatross is hit by a white squall about 125 miles west of the Dry Tortugas. The schooner sinks almost instantly, taking with her Alice Sheldon, ship's cook George Ptacnik, and students Chris Coristine, John Goodlett, Rick Marsellus, and Robin Wetherill. The tragedy will later form the basis for the 1996 film White Squall.
Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3. Had the flight taken place on its original scheduled date of March 6, 1961, Shepard would have been the first man in space.
NASA issues a proposal document to use Scout rockets to launch small satellites that would evaluate the worldwide Mercury Tracking Network in preparation for manned orbital missions.
Belgian musician Bobbejaan Schoepen marries opera singer and photo model Josephina (Josée) Jongen.
May 19, 1961 (Friday)
Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and does not send back any data).
Apollo program: American President John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
^ Feofanov, Yuri and Barry, Donald D. (1996). Politics and Justice in Russia: Major Trials of the Post-Stalin Era, pp. 22–31. M. E. Sharpe, Inc. ISBN 1-56234-344-X.
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