January 23, 1959 (Friday)
- Wernher von Braun predicted that men would be living and working on the moon by 1974, fifteen years hence. He added that "The Russians could put a man on the moon this year. But they couldn't get him back."
- On the same day, United States Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield announced a serious proposal for the mail to be delivered "by guided missile". Summerfield, who, in 1955, had successfully changed corner mail boxes from olive drab to red, white and blue, added that "If Congress provides us with sufficient funds, you may be assured that mail-carrying rocket missiles will be painted with the traditional colors-- red, white and blue-- of which every American is justly proud."
- Died: English race car driver Mike Hawthorn, 29, was killed in an accident
Read more about this topic: January 1959
Famous quotes containing the word january:
“Here lies interred in the eternity of the past, from whence there is no resurrection for the days—whatever there may be for the dust—the thirty-third year of an ill-spent life, which, after a lingering disease of many months sank into a lethargy, and expired, January 22d, 1821, A.D. leaving a successor inconsolable for the very loss which occasioned its existence.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)