page_title: 1959 in the United States
section_title: April–June
hierarchical_section_title: 1959 in the United States / Events / April–June
caption_attribution_description: English: Project Mercury Astronauts, whose selection was announced on April 9, 1959, only six months after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was formally established on October 1, 1958. Front row, left to right, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. 'Gus' Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper.
context_page_description: Events from the year 1959 in the United States. With the admittance of Alaska and Hawaii, this is the last year in which states are added to the union.
context_section_description: April 6 – The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held; Gigi wins Best Picture.
  April 9 – NASA announces its selection of the "Mercury Seven", seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts.
  April 25 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
  May 8 – The first Little Caesars pizza restaurant is opened by Mike Ilitch and his wife Marian in Garden City, Michigan.
  May 21 – Gypsy: A Musical Fable, starring Ethel Merman in her last new musical, opens on Broadway and runs for 702 performances.
  May 28 – Jupiter AM-18 rocket launches two primates, Miss Baker and Miss Able, into space from Cape Canaveral along with living microorganisms and plant seeds. Successful recovery makes them the first living beings to return safely to Earth after space flight.
  June 8 – USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
  June 9 – USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
  June 23 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumes a scientific career).
  June 26
  Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
  Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a film based on H. T. Kavanagh's short stories, is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney, two days after its world premiere in Ireland.
caption: April 9: NASA announces the "Mercury Seven"
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