Astronomy in the 1960 was an interesting time with new experiences every year.  In 1960 "the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) establishes a new field center in Huntsville, Alabama to be called the Marshall Space Flight Center in honor of the American soldier and statesman General George C. Marshall."  In 1961 Yuri Gagarinin of the USSR's Vostok 1, was the first man in space.  Also that year  Explorer 11 was launched.  This was the first satellite to detect gamma rays from cosmic sources.  On May 5th of that year Alan Shepard Jr. becomes the first American to fly into space when he rode his Mercury capsule on a 15-minute duration suborbital mission.  In 1962 the Ranger 3 was launched into space towards the moon.  Although unsuccessful in its mission it did make the first detection of the diffuse gamma-ray background. Later that year,  John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.  More information may be located at the source I listed below.