February 5, 1961: Soviets Put 'Huge Earth Satellite' Into Orbit, Warn US

February 5, 1961: Soviets Put 'Huge Earth Satellite' Into Orbit, Warn US

"The Soviet Union has accepted the United States request for a six-week postponement
"The Soviet Union announced today it had put into orbit a huge earth satellite weighing more than seven tons. An 'improved, multi-stage rocket' hurled the satellite into space, the announcement said. There was no indication that anything living was aboard the satellite, the heaviest object man has ever put into orbit," the Times reports.

"The Soviet Union warned President Kennedy today that he had taken the first steps toward an expansion of the arms race," the Times reports.

"In an abrupt departure from the circumspect attitude heretofore maintained publicly toward the Kennedy Administration, Moscow complained that the United States President had evoked 'irksome echoes of the cold war' in his State of the Union Message."

"American auto manufacturers are getting ready to offer the public new economy cars for 1962 with more zip, greater comfort and higher styling than the current crop of compacts," the Times reports.

February 4, 1961: Kennedy Confers on Laos, Wants 'Federalized' Laos; Ted Kennedy Launches Career

"President Kennedy received a first-hand report today on the situation in Laos from Ambassador Winthrop G. Brown," the New York Times reports on this day in 1961.

"The Ambassador was called to Washington from his post in Vientiane to participate in a comprehensive high-level review of major problems facing the United States in Asia," the paper reports.

"The Kennedy Administration is convinced that a new 'federalized' government in the Congo, embracing the leaders of all the factions, offers the only hope of preventing that nation from sliding from chaos into civil war," the Times reports.

"The youngest of the Kennedy brothers, Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy, is expected to launch his own political career Monday as an assistant district attorney here [Boston]," the Times reports. "But everyone concerned, including the 28-year-old Ted, as he is best known, is keeping official silence."

February 3, 1961: Pentagon Prepares to Meet Limited-War Scenarios

"The Pentagon has placed orders for fifty-three military cargo and troop transport planes for a speedy build-up of the long-range airlift. The purpose is to give the United States forces mobility to meet limited-war situations anywhere in the world," the New York Times reports on this day in 1961.

February 2, 1961: Kennedy Agrees to 1964 Debate, Hammarskjold Wants New Powers, Minuteman 'Spectacular Success'

"President Kennedy declared today his willingness to engage in a televised debate with a contender for his office in 1964," the New York Times reported on this day in 1961.

"President Kennedy said today that the United States' position in critical world trouble spots 'is less satisfactory than it was last fall," the Times reported today.

United Nations "Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold asked the Security Council today to widen his powers in the Congo so that he might stop factional fighting among politically motivated groups of the Congolese Army," the Times reports.

"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 1 -- The three-stage Minuteman, intended to become the Air Force's No. 1 weapon, was fired for the first time here today and scored a spectacular success. The test shot of the intercontinental ballistic missile was probably the most ambitious in the nation's missile program."

"A gap in the nation's satellite-detection fence will be plugged this year by the construction of one of the world's largest radio transmitters," the Times reports.

February 1, 1961: Chimp and Spy Satellite in Space

"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan. 31 -- A male chimpanzee nicknamed "Ham" was rocketed 420 miles over the Caribbean today in a test of the Mercury capsule that is scheduled to carry a human astronaut into orbit," the New York Times reported on this day in 1961. "The thirty-seven pound ape was in good condition when a helicopter pulled the capsule from the water almost three hours after the launching."

"POINT ARGUELLO, Calif., Jan 31 -- The United States fired a Samos reconnaissance satellite into polar orbit today. The vehicle, an experimental version called Samos II, is designed to perform photographic missions once done by U-2 aircraft," the New York Times reported today. "Samos II is not a full-fledged substitute for the U-2, but within two years the United States plans to have a network of such satellites photographing parts of the globe."