 the year 1969 in science and technology involved some significant events, listed below.  ==astronomy and space exploration== * january 15 â the soviet union launches soyuz 5. * march 3 â apollo program: nasa launches apollo 9 to test the lunar module. * march 13 â apollo program: apollo 9 returns safely to earth after testing the lunar module. * may 16 â venera program: venera 5, a soviet spaceprobe, lands on venus. * may 17 â venera program: soviet venera 6 begins to descend into venus', atmosphere sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. * may 18 â apollo program: apollo 10 launches. * may 22 â apollo program: apollo 10's lunar module flies within 15,400 m of the moon's surface. * may 26 â apollo program: apollo 10 returns to earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned moon landing. * july 20 â apollo program: the human race, represented by neil armstrong and buzz aldrin, lands on the moon. apollo 11 lifted off for the moon on july 16 and returned safely on july 24. * august 5 â mariner program: mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of mars (3,524 kilometers). * november 14 â apollo program: nasa launches apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of the moon (landed on the moon on november 19). * november 19 â apollo program: apollo 12 astronauts charles conrad and alan bean land at oceanus procellarum ("ocean of storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the moon. ==biology== * thomas d. brock and hudson freeze of indiana university publish their findings on hyperthermophilic bacteria, most notably thermus aquaticus, a thermophilic bacterium species living at a temperature of 60-80Â°c in a hot spring at yellowstone national park. t. aquaticus (taq) later becomes a standard source of enzymes able to withstand higher temperatures than those from e. coli and is significant in the history of polymerase chain reaction. * last przewalski's horse sighted in the wild, in mongolia. ==chemistry== * dorothy hodgkin and colleagues at the university of oxford determine the structure of insulin.{{cite journal|author=adams, m. j. et al.|journal=nature|doi=10.1038/224491a0|
1969_in_science