March 4, 1959 (Wednesday)
- Pioneer IV became the second man-made object to pass the Moon and to enter an orbit around the sun, becoming the first American-made planetary object. The Soviet satellite Lunik had achieved solar orbit on January 7. Contact with Pioneer IV was lost two days later after its batteries ran out of power.
- The government of Cuba nationalized the Cuban Telephone Company, a subsidiary of ITT.
- Born: Rick Ardon, Australian news anchor, in Perth; Irina Strakhova, Russian race walker, in Novosibirsk
- Died: Maxie Long, 80, Olympic track medalist 1900
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Famous quotes containing the word march:
“Unaffected by “the march of events,”
He passed from men’s memory in l’an trentiesme
De son eage; the case presents
No adjunct to the Muses’ diadem.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)