The temperature on December 16, 1961 was between -4.0 °C and 1.4 °C and averaged -1.9 °C. There was 0.1 mm of rain. There was 1.9 hours of sunshine (25%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the east. Source: KNMI
January 27 » The Soviet submarine S-80 sinks when its snorkel malfunctions, flooding the boat.
May 5 » Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.
May 19 » Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
July 19 » Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later.
July 21 » Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
October 31 » In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin's Mausoleum, also known as the Lenin Tomb.
Day of death December 18, 1961
The temperature on December 18, 1961 was between -8.4 °C and -1.7 °C and averaged -6.0 °C. There was 6.3 hours of sunshine (81%). The almost cloudless was. The average windspeed was 1 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the east-northeast. Source: KNMI
January 17 » Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
January 31 » Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
April 12 » Cold War: Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.
May 4 » Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67km).
June 1 » The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merge to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest bank merger in Canadian history.
September 16 » Pakistan establishes its Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission with Abdus Salam as its head.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: J Eijsermans, "Eijsermans family tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-eijsermans/I207722.php : accessed February 3, 2026), "Adri van Gils (1961-1961)".
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