Ray Charles's cover of Don Gibson's I Can't Stop Loving You reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for five weeks, making it one of the biggest hits of 1962. It also went to #1 on the Billboard R&B Singles, Adult Contemporary, and the UK Singles Chart.
Billboard ranked it the #2 song for 1962. Rolling Stone ranked it as #164 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. CMT ranked it as #49 on the 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music.
Ray Charles won the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording in 1963.
At what would be the beginning of a stellar career with multiple awards, Rita Moreno won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in West Side Story at the 34th annual ceremony held April 9, 1962.
West Side Story was the big winner of the evening, winning ten awards out of eleven nominations. Besides Moreno's win, it won:
Best Motion Picture
Best Directing for Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
Best Supporting Actor for George Chakiris
Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) for Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, and Irwin Kostal
Best Sound for Gordon Sawyer and Fred Hynes
Best Art Direction (Color) for Boris Leven and Victor Gangelin
Best Cinematography (Color) for Daniel Fapp
Best Costume Design (Color) for Irene Sharaff, beating Edith Head.
Best Film Editing for Thomas Stanford
West Side Story's only loss was for Best Writing (Screenplay-Based on Material from Another Medium).
Breakfast at Tiffany's was nominated for five awards but won only two, both going to Henry Mancini: Best Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) and Best Music (Song) for Moon River with Johnny Mercer who wrote the lyrics.
Henry Mancini won five Grammy Awards for his work on Breakfast at Tiffany's at the 4th annual ceremony, held May 29, 1962. His composition of the soundtrack won Best Sound Track Album or Recording Score from Motion Picture or Television, and Best Performance by an Orchestra - for Other Than Dancing. The latter award was from the Pop category?
His original song Moon River won Record of the year, Song of the Year, and Best Arrangement.
West Side Story won Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or Television.
Ray Charles won Best Rhythm & Blues Performance for Hit the Road Jack.
The first episode of the long-running series The Beverly Hillbillies aired September 26, 1962. It starred Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer as a poor family living in rural Missouri, who discover oil on their land. The backwoods folks become instant millionaires and move to Beverly Hills. Although critics panned the series, it became one of the most-watched programs for eight of its nine seasons. It was nominated for 7 Primetime Emmys, including one for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy for Nancy Kulp.
Gregory Chamitoff, born August 6, 1962 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has been in space twice.
His first trip was aboard Discovery (STS-124) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in May 2008. He participated in Expeditions 17 and 18 spending about six months on the space station. He returned to Earth aboard Endeavour (STS-126) in November.
His second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-134) to the International Space Station in May-June 2011. He spent almost 16 days in space. It was the last flight of Endeavour.
The only reason I know about this movie is because it was featured in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, where it was riffed by Mike Nelson (who celebrates his birthday today!) and the bots. Santo vs. las Mujeres Vampiro (Santo. vs. the Vampire Women) was released in Mexican theaters October 11, 1962.
The main character Santo was the title of professional wrestler Rodolfo Guzman Huerta, born September 1917. He appeared in numerous movies portraying El Santo (The Saint).
In this movie, Santo must battle a group of female vampires who have wakened from a 200-year sleep. The queen vampire must find a successor and has her sights set on a professor's daughter. The professor employs Santo to keep her safe.
England became the third country in the world to operate a satellite, launching Ariel 1 April 26, 1962 from Cape Canaveral. It was a joint effort between NASA and the UK. It was named after the sprite in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
In July 1962, it was damaged by the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test, which destroyed or damaged several other satellites. Although it continued to operate, the radiation disabled the timer which would have deactivated the satellite after one year. Thus, it extended its life and Ariel 1 re-entered the atmosphere in May 1976.
Robert Curbeam, born March 5, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland(!), has been in space three times. After graduation from the US Naval Academy with a Master's Degree in Astronautical Engineering in 1991, he was selected by NASA in Dec 1994.
His first mission into space was aboard Discovery (STS-85) as mission specialist in August 1997. One of the experiments was the Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging Systems from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas (I've been there!) and the University of Maryland (I've been by there!).
His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-98) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in February 2001. During the mission, he performed three EVAs with fellow astronaut Thomas Jones for almost 20 hours total.
His third and final mission was aboard Discovery (STS-116) to the International Space Station in December 2006. He conducted four spacewalks for about 25 1/2 hours total, setting the record for the most EVAs during a mission.
Barry Wilmore, born December 29, 1962 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, has been in space twice, and will return in 2021.
His first trip into space was aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) as pilot to the International Space Station in November 2009. He celebrated Thanksgiving with the other crew members and the residents of the International Space Station.
His second flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-10M to the International Space Station in September 2014. He participated in Expeditions 41 and 42. He returned to Earth in March 2015 after more than 167 days in space.
He is scheduled to be commander of the Boeing Crewed Flight Test (Boe-CFT), the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner to the International Space Station, expected to launch in July 2021.
Nicole Stott, born November 19, 1962 in Albany, New York, has been in space two times.
Her first trip was aboard Discovery (STS-128) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in August 2009. She performed an EVA with fellow astronaut John Olivas for 6 hours and 35 minutes.
Stott remained on board the ISS as part of Expeditions 20 and 21. She returned Earth aboard Atlantis (STS-129) in November 2009.
Her second and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-133) as mission specialist to the ISS in February-March 2011. She has stayed more than 103 days in space.
Ranger 5, launched October 18, 1962, was supposed to take pictures of the moon before crashing into its surface, but missed its target. Its guidance system experienced problems shortly after launch, but NASA sent commands and Ranger 5 was back on course.
Soon, the computer system detected high temperatures and then power generation from the solar panels ceased. The computer did not command the spacecraft to align with Earth and telemetry at tracking stations malfunctioned. An electrical short had disabled the solar panels, leaving Ranger 5 with a few hours of battery power. NASA made several attempts to salvage the mission, but were not successful.
On October 21, Ranger 5 passed within 724 km of the moon and entered a heliocentric orbit.
Michael Good, born October 13, 1962 in Parma, Ohio, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.
His first trip into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-125) as mission specialist to the Hubble Space Telescope, the fifth and final flight to the Hubble Telescope in May 2009. He conducted 2 EVAs with fellow astronaut Michael Massimino for almost 16 hours total.
His second and final flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-132) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in May 2010. He conducted two more EVAs with fellow astronauts Steve Bowen and Garrett Reisman.
Rex Walheim, born October 10, 1962 in Redwood City, California, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions. He obtained the rank of second lieutenant in the Air Force in May 1984.
His first mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-110) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in April 2002. The mission's main objective was to install the S0 Truss segment, which forms the back bone of the ISS.
His second mission was again aboard Atlantis (STS-122) as mission specialist to the ISS in February 2008. Walheim conducted 3 EVAs with fellow astronauts Stanley Love and Hans Schlegel for over 21 hours.
His third and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-135) as mission specialist to the ISS in July 2011. It was the final flight of the Space Shuttle program.
Vivian Campbell, born August 25, 1962 in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is best known for being a guitarist for Def Leppard since 1992. Okay, that was before I became a fan, but I'm enjoying him. He worked with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. He replaced Steve Clark, who passed away in January 1991.
He has recorded with Def Leppard since Retro Active in 1993.
The Tavern Guild, formed in 1962 in San Francisco, was the first assocation of gay businesses. Gay bar owners and employees began tired of constantly being harassed by city authorities for serving gay customers, which was forbidden. Finally, they banded together to help each other out, by presenting a united front. They developed a phone network to track police raids. They organized fundraisers and charity events, which were extremely successful and important, including the Beaux Arts Ball, the first large public drag ball. It was held from 1963 into the late 1970s. They contacted beer and liquor manufacturers and distributors for help in their fight against the police and the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Sergei Zalyotin, born April 21, 1962 in Russia, went into space twice.
His first mission was aboard Soyuz TM-30 as Commander to the space station Mir in April 2000. He participated in expedition Mir EO-38. It was the final human spaceflight to Mir. He returned to Earth in June 16 after about 72 days in space.
His second and final mission was aboard Soyuz TMA-1 as Commander to the International Space Station in October 30, 2002. He remained on board almost two weeks and returned to Earth in November aboard Soyuz TM-34.
Kalpana Chawla, born March 19, 1962 in India, was the first female Indian astronaut. Her official birth date was changed to July 1, 1961 so she could become eligible for the "matriculation exam", which is why I have a blog post also celebrating her "new" birth date. After obtaining her Bachelor's, she moved to the US and completed her Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Her first trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-87) as mission specialist in November-December 1997. The mission continued experiments with the Microgravity Laboratory program.
Her second trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-107) as mission specialist in January-February 2003. Unfortunately, the shuttle disintegrated upon re-entry and broke up over north Texas, killing all crew members.
Chawla is remembered in a number of ways. An asteroid has been named after her, as one of seven named after the Columbia's crew. A studen apartment complex at Florida Institute of Technology here in Melbourne is named for her. UTA opened a dorm named in her honor in 2004.
George Zamka, born June 29, 1962 in Jersey City, New Jersey, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights. He graduated with a Bachelor's in mathematics from the US Naval Academy in 1984. Then he became a Second Lieutenant in the US Marines. In 1994, he graduated from the US Air Force Test Pilot School.
His first trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-120) as pilot October-November 2007 to the International Space Station.
His second and final mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-130) as commander in February 2010 to the ISS.
Ranger 3, launched January 26, 1962, was a NASA spacecraft meant to study the moon. Due to a number of malfunctions, Ranger 3 missed the moon by 22,000 miles and is now in a heliocentric orbit.
NASA continued to send signals to Ranger 3 in the hope of salvaging something of the mission, but all attempts were futile. The mission was officially terminated on January 31.
Alvin Drew, born November 5, 1962 in Washington, DC, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights and during his last shuttle mission became the 200th person to walk in space.
His first mission into space was aboard Endeavour (STS-118) as mission specialist in August 2007 to the International Space Station. It was the first flight of the Endeavour after the Columbia disaster. Drew and fellow astronaut Barbara Morgan participated in an education event on August 16 (Day 9) with students in Alexandria, Virginia.
His wake-up songs are two songs I really like: Outa-space by Billy Preston and Learn to Fly by the Foo Fighters.
Drew's second mission into space was aboard Discovery (STS-133) in February-March 2011 to the International Space Station. It was the 39th and final mission of Discovery. It completed a cumulative total of 365 days in space. Drew performed the mission's first EVA on Day 5 with fellow astronaut Steve Bowen. That is when Drew became the 200th person to walk in space.
