1 January 1959LaunchNikita Sergeyevich Khruschev
1st unmanned space probe is launched, Luna I
Historical records for Russia in 1959, rendered directly from the World History Database and ordered by month, day and event.
1st unmanned space probe is launched, Luna I
The achievement marks first escape-velocity probe as an important Russian scientific milestone.
Directs Luna 1, the first spacecraft to escape Earth's gravitational influence.
The Soviet Union launches Luna 1, the first spacecraft to escape Earth's gravity.
Uses the Twenty-First Party Congress to launch the Seven-Year Plan and proclaim progress toward communism.
Debates Vice President Richard Nixon at the American National Exhibition over consumer living standards and rival political systems.
Kerensky participates in military leadership debate during his political career.
The achievement marks first spacecraft on the moon as an important Russian scientific milestone.
Directs the mission whose probe becomes the first human-made object to reach the Moon.
Luna 2 becomes the first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon.
Arrives for his official American tour and is welcomed by President Eisenhower.
Begins the first visit to the United States by a Soviet leader, meeting President Dwight Eisenhower.
Addresses the United Nations General Assembly during his visit to the United States.
Visits a Hollywood studio during his widely publicized tour of the United States.
Tours San Francisco during his American visit and meets civic and business representatives.
Visits an Iowa farm and studies American maize production during his agricultural tour.
Visits Pittsburgh to inspect American industrial facilities before continuing to Camp David.
Holds extensive private and formal talks with Eisenhower on Berlin, disarmament and bilateral relations.
Concludes talks with Eisenhower by affirming that international disputes should be settled through peaceful negotiations.
Visits Beijing for the tenth anniversary of the People's Republic amid worsening Sino-Soviet relations.
Khrushchev & Eisenhower stated jointly that the most important issue in the world was general disarmament & Berlin to be resolved by negotiation
Agrees with President Eisenhower that negotiations on Berlin should continue without a fixed Soviet deadline.
Khrushchev & Eisenhower stated jointly that the most important issue in the world was general disarmament & Berlin to be resolved by negotiation
Visits China for the 10th anniversary of the revolution
Criticised in the press for a visit to the US
Leads the spacecraft programme returning the first images of the Moon's far side.
The achievement marks photography of lunar far side as an important Russian scientific milestone.
Luna 3 photographs the far side of the Moon for the first time.
Attends but a Treaty is not agreed due to US opposition, the "big hole" theory. Attends but a Treaty is not agreed due to US opposition, the "big hole" theory
21st Party Congress
Khrushchev & Eisenhower stated jointly that the most important issue in the world was general disarmament & Berlin to be resolved by negotiation. Russia withdraws its deadline & instead meets with the Western powers in a Big Four Foreign Minister's conference
Promotes wider maize cultivation as part of his effort to increase livestock feed and agricultural output.
Appointed First Secretary of the Novosibirsk obkom
Launches the maize campaign
The achievement marks mass polio immunization as an important Russian scientific milestone.
Organizes large-scale trials of the live oral poliovirus vaccine.
Writes essays defending the democratic revolution of 1917.
Open disagreements with Mao Zedong deepen the emerging Sino-Soviet split.
The Sino-Soviet split becomes public
Visits Eisenhower to discuss general foreign policy including Berlin
This page is generated from stored World History Database records matching the exact country and year shown above. Exact duplicate display records are collapsed. Records without a month are listed after the monthly sections. Source provenance varies by record; formal academic citation should be checked against the relevant primary source, archive or specialist historical reference.