July 1969

Events that happened in July 1969.

On 3 July, Brian Jones, founding member of the Rolling Stones, was found dead in the swimming pool of his Hartfield, England, estate. He had left the band a month before to pursue a solo career. His death was the first of that of several rock stars — Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison — in the next couple of years, all at the age of 27. It gave rise to the notion of a “27 Club,” the concept that rock stars were more likely to die at that age.

A sudden, intense storm on Independence Day killed 42 people in Ohio and Michigan. Many were outside celebrating July 4. A tornado swept through Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and killed several people.

French joined English as the official languages of Canada on 7 July.

The first of 25,000 American troops to be withdrawn from Vietnam arrived at McCord Air Force Base, Washington, on 8 July.

In anticipation of the launch of Apollo 11, David Bowie’s song, Space Oddity, was released on 11 July. The song refers to a fictional astronaut, “Major Tom.”

Apollo 11 — with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on board — launched from Cape Kennedy on 16 July at 9:32 am local time. Less than three hours later, it left earth orbit to begin its journey to the Moon.

Police from Edgartown, Mass., on Martha’s Vineyard, arrived 19 July at the scene of an automobile accident on Chappaquiddick Island, and found the body of 27-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne inside an automobile that had fallen into a deep pond. Afterward, U.S. Senator Edward “Teddy” Kennedy reported that he had accidentally driven off of the bridge 10 hours earlier and that he had escaped the car, leaving Miss Kopechne inside, left the scene, and gone back to his bedroom to sleep. The senator’s explanation for failing to report the event for 10 hours was that he had been “in shock.” Kennedy pleaded guilty on 25 July to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a suspended sentence of two months in jail and one year’s probation.

As millions watched on live TV on 20 July (but not those on the Biddle or out in the field in Vietnam), Neil Armstrong piloted the Apollo 11 lunar module, named “Eagle,” to the surface of the Moon. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on another world. About seven hours after landing, Armstrong set foot on the moon and said, “That’s one small step for man . . . one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong later said that he had actually said, “That’s one small step for a man . . . .” and that radio transmission had obscured the single article. Michael Collins, alone in the Apollo 11 command module, “Columbia,” for more than 21 hours, maintained an orbit around the Moon. When he was on the far side of the Moon, he was at least 2,222 miles away from the nearest human being (his fellow astronauts on the Moon), with no radio contact with Earth or his crewmates, and more than 244,000 miles and a 2,100 mile-wide ball of rock “between him and every other human who ever lived.” On 21 July, in what NASA considered the most dangerous part of the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin piloted the Eagle to rendezvous with the command module. Apollo 11 splashed down in the South Pacific on 24 July and the astronauts were recovered later that day by the USS Hornet (CV-12). The crew arrived back in Houston, at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center, on 27 July.