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Science and Technology of 1968

Although the year 1968 is remembered in the United States more for the escalation of the Vietnam War, civil unrest and high profile assassinations; in the areas of science and technology the world saw many mile stones. The following is a basic time line of prominent events from 1968 in relation to HemisFair ’68

January

February

2/10/68 – Boeing Co. 737-100 begins commercial service (1st flight is with Lufthansa).

2/16/68 – In the United States the first 9-1-1 emergency phone call was placed in Alabama, 35 days after being announced by AT&T.

March

April

4/4/68 – NASA launches Apollo 6 mission to complete unmanned testing of all key components: Saturn V rocket, Command Module, Lunar Module, etc…

—– 4/6/1968 – HemisFair ’68 Opens —–

4/?/68 – Boeing Co. 737-200 begins commercial service.

May

June

July

7/18/68 – Semiconductor company Intel is founded in California.

August

September

9/19/68 – Concorde SST prototype 002 (S/N “G-BSST”) was rolled out in a formal ceremony at the British Aircraft Corporation’s plant at Filton, Bristol

9/30/68 – Boeing Co. rolls out the 747 Jumbo Jet (S/N “RA-001”) in a formal ceremony at Renton plant.

October

—– 10/6/68 – HemisFair ’68 Closes —–

10/11/68 – NASA launches the Apollo 7 mission sending the first three-person crew into space.

November

11/?/68 – Dr. Robert Good with the University of Minnesota performs the first successful bone marrow transplant between two siblings who were not twins.

11/26/68 – Cunard’s RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is completed by John Brown & Company and begins sea trials prior to her maiden voyage in May of 1969.

December

12/9/68 – Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco.

12/21/68 – NASA launches the Apollo 8 mission sending the first three man crew into orbit around the moon.

12/24/68 – NASA’s Apollo 8 mission makes first manned loop around the moon.

12/31/68 – The Soviet Union’s Tupolev Design Bureau completes the maiden flight of the TU-144 (Russian SST).