#UTD50 | A Look at 1970

01.21.2020

Our first school year may have started in 1969, but it ended in 1970. Join us for a look at what was happening on campus and around the world during the second half of our inaugural year.

Déjà Vu

Jan. 11: The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the favored Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Will the Chiefs secure their second championship 50 years later in Super Bowl LIV? (UPDATE: Yep!)

You’re the One

Feb. 25: Ernie sings “Rubber Duckie” for the first time during an episode in the first season of “Sesame Street.” The single went on to sell over 1 million copies.

Lights Out

March 7: A total solar eclipse passes the Atlantic coastline from Florida to Virginia.

Hello, Goodbye

April 10: Paul McCartney announces he has left the Beatles, marking the first public acknowledgment of the band’s end.

 
Mission Control during last day of the Apollo 13 mission. (Photo courtesy of NASA.)

Houston, We’ve Had a Problem

April 11: Apollo 13 launches toward the moon. It was slated to be the third mission to the lunar surface, but an explosion in one of the vessel’s oxygen tanks forces an emergency return to Earth. After a few harrowing days, the three astronauts assigned to the mission safely splash down in the Pacific Ocean.

Otherworldly Rocks

April 12: Hundreds of people come to UT Dallas to view lunar surface materials from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions. UTD had received the samples to study. Lunar regolith simulant (seen above), or fake moon dirt, was later developed by the late Dr. James Carter, a UTD geosciences professor, and used by NASA and other researchers for studies in support of future human activities on the moon.

A Green Idea

April 22: A reported 20 million Americans demonstrate for a healthy environment as part of the inaugural Earth Day. It’s been celebrated on the same day every year since.