March 1961 - March 10, 1961 (Friday)

March 10, 1961 (Friday)

• The first definite proof that a signal could be sent to Venus and returned to Earth, using radar astronomy, was made by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Transmission was sent from the Goldstone Tracking Station in California at a 2,388 megacycle frequency, traveling 35 million miles to Venus and then back to Earth, in a little more than six minutes. Signals had been bounced off of Venus before, but never received back clearly enough to be "immediately detectable".
• Richard Sullivan, a staffer at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, delivered a feasibility study to the Authority, entitled "A World Trade Center in the Port of New York", outlining the justification for building what would become the Twin Towers and five other buildings in the World Trade Center complex.
• Born: Mitch Gaylord, first American gymnast to score a 10.00 in Olympic competition (1984); in Van Nuys, California; Greg Kolodziejzyk, Canadian cyclist, in Fort St. John, British Columbia