1960 CE

The following events took place in 1960 CE, or Common Era.

Events

 * Soviet Chief Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin gives orders for improper shutdown and control procedures﻿ on an experimental R-16 rocket. Between 92 and 150 top Soviet military and technical personnel are killed in the resulting explosion, toxic spill, and fire; Marshal Nedelin himself is completely vaporized. The rocket's chief designer, Mikhail Yangel, survives by sheer dumb luck, but the incident destroys all hope of his unseating Sergey Korolyov as the chief architect of the Russian spaceflight program. The entire incident is kept secret until 1989 CE.