The following events occurred in February 1970:
February 1, 1970 (Sunday) At least 236 people were killed, and 360 injured in Argentina's worst railroad disaster."RR Wreck Death Toll Set at 236— Signalman Placed Under Arrest In Argentina", Pittsburgh Post Gazette, February 3, 1970, p2 The high speed luxury train "La Mixta" was north of Buenos Aires at the end of a trip from Tucuman, and carried about 400 passengers in 21 rail cars. Ahead, a commuter train that was crowded with 1,000 passengers in 10 crowded cars, had stalled on the same tracks, but there was no signal to warn the luxury train, which was moving at before impact. Most of the casualties of the wreck were on the commuter train. Voting took place in Costa Rica for a new president and for the 57-seat Asamblea Legislativa, the unicameral legislature. Former President José Figueres Ferrer, who had served from 1948 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1958, was elected to a four-year term over former President Mario Echandi Jiménez, and Ferrer's National Liberation Party won 32 of the 57 seats in the Asamblea. Born: Malik Sealy, American pro basketball player in the NBA, 1992–2000; in the Bronx, New York (killed in auto accident, 2000)
February 2, 1970 (Monday) U.S. President Richard M. Nixon sent the annual government budget proposal to Congress, sharply curtailing the American crewed space program and raising the amount to be spent on welfare programs. The amount of money budgeted for government programs for the 1971 fiscal year was a little more than 200 billion dollars USD. Fifty years later, the budget for FY 2020 would be 23 times higher, at 4,700 billion dollars ($4.7 trillion)"Nixon Budget Is $200.8 Billion — Plans to Slash Spending For Defense, Space — Crime, Pollution Fights, Programs to Aid Poor Will Get More Funds", Pittsburgh Post Gazette, February 3, 1970, p. 1 Died: Bertrand Russell, 97, British philosopher, anti-war activist and logician; 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
February 3, 1970 (Tuesday) NASA made its second, and more successful launch of a rocket with electrostatic ion thrusters, as it put the SERT-2 probe into a polar orbit around the Earth."Electrical Rocket Engine Gets Test", Orlando Evening Star, February 4, 1970, p. 7 The SERT-2 was sent up from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:50 in the evening local time. On July 20, 1964, the first SERT (an acronym for Space Electric Rocket Test) operated for 31 minutes. SERT-2 remained in orbit for more than 11 years, and its two mercury engine thrusters successfully operated for 3,781 hours and 2,011 hours (157 days and 84 days)."Space Electric Rocket Test II (SERT II)" , NASA Glenn Research Center Born: Warwick Davis, 3'6" English film actor; in Epsom, Surrey Keith Carney, American ice hockey player with 1018 NHL games over 18 seasons from 1991 to 2008; in Providence, Rhode Island Died: General Italo Gariboldi, 90, Italian military officer who commanded the Italian Royal Army in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II; Governor General of Libya in 1941
February 4, 1970 (Wednesday) All 33 passengers and the four crew of Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 707 were killed when the HS 748 airliner crashed during a three-stop flight between Paraguay and Argentina."37 Lost In Crash Of Plane", Tallahassee (FL) Democrat, February 5, 1970, p. 1 The turboprop plane took off from Asunción earlier in the day and was on its way from Corrientes to Rosario, away. Roughly from Rosario, the plane flew into a turbulent cloud bank and, within seconds, plunged to the ground near the village of Loma Alta. Shareholders of American Motors Corporation approved AMC's purchase of the Kaiser Jeep Corporation, manufacturers of the civilian and military Jeep vehicles"AMC Shareholders Vote To Acquire Kaiser Jeep", Indianapolis Star, February 5, 1970, p. 55 Died: Louise Bogan, 72, American poet and former United States Poet Laureate (during 1945–1946)
February 5, 1970 (Thursday) The value of a share of Poseidon NL, an Australian nickel mining company, soared to a record high on the Australian Securities Exchange and what would prove to be its peak price of A$275 Australian dollars ($308 in U.S. dollars at the exchange rate at the time of A$1 to US$1.12)"Poseidon hits new record", The Age (Melbourne), February 6, 1970, p1 The stock opened the day at A$225 and a rush of buying increased the price dramatically before the ASX asked Poseidon for further information; when Poseidon replied that drilling had commenced at Windarra and that "A report will be made at the end of March", prices began to drop."Buyers rush Poseidon — Nickel star hits peak $275", The Age (Melbourne), February 6, 1970, p10 Investors who had bought the stock in September, when it was priced at 80 cents per share ($US 0.90),"Three Australian Asset-price Bubbles" , p26, by John Simon, Reserve Bank of Australia, March 19, 2003 made a fortune in the months after the company had announced a major discovery of a nickel deposit at Mount Windarra, near Laverton, Western Australia. By March 23, the stock price had dropped to $131.79"Another dark day as Poseidon takes a big dive", The Age (Melbourne), March 24, 1970, p. 1 and was at $74 by the end of April and $46 at year's end."Mining Share Quotations", Sydney Morning Herald, December 30, 1970, p. 13 Died: Rudy York, 56, American baseball player and 1943 American League leader in home runs and RBIs
February 6, 1970 (Friday) The village of Angmagsalik (now called Tasiilaq) in Greenland was leveled by hurricane-force winds when it was struck by a piteraq, a powerful winter wind; ten buildings were destroyed, and the rest in the town of 800 sustained damage of some sort, but the residents were prepared to take shelter and no injuries or deaths were reported."Ice, Wind & Fury — Scientists investigate the avalanche of winds known as piteraqs" , by Marilena Oltmanns, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, November 10, 2015"Hurricane Slams Into Greenland", Oakland Tribune, February 6, 1970, p. 1 The Tasiilaq event had the highest speed winds ever recorded for such an event, reaching 90 meters/second — .The Observed Climate of Greenland, 1958–99 , by John Cappelen and Bent Vrae Jorgensen, Danish Meteorological Institute Technical Report 00-18 (2001) p. 29 Aeroflot Flight U-45 crashed in the Soviet Union's Uzbek SSR (now Uzbekistan) during its approach to Samarkand after a flight that had originated in Tashkent. Only 14 of the 98 people on board survived. A misreading of the radar data by an air traffic controller in Samarkand led to prematurely clearing the Ilyushin Il-18 airliner for descent, and the plane impacted on a mountain slope on the Zarafshan Range at an altitude of . Consistent with Soviet policy at the time, the accident was not mentioned in the media. The dollar became the official currency of the popular tourist destination of Bermuda as the British Overseas Territory abandoned the pound and converted to decimal currency."Bermuda Has Dollar Of Own", Austin (TX) American-Statesman, February 6, 1970, p4 The Bermudian dollar was given for the old money at the rate of 8 shillings, 4 pence"Bermuda shifts to dollar", Boston Globe, February 1, 1970, p. 54 which was the exchange rate for the British pound. Conversely, a Bermudian pound was worth $2.40 in Bermudian currency. The United Kingdom would go to decimal currency on February 15, 1971.
February 7, 1970 (Saturday) Professional golfer Doug Sanders was struck on the head with a golf ball during the Bob Hope Desert Classic in Palm Springs, California, after being hit by an errant shot made by U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew."Spiro's Shot Conks Golf Pro", Pittsburgh Press, February 8, 1970, p. 1 Sanders had won the Desert Classic during the PGA Tour in 1966 and had been grouped with three celebrities, Agnew, Bob Hope and former movie star and U.S. Senator, George Murphy. Bruce Devlin of Australia would go on to win the PGA event.
February 8, 1970 (Sunday) Four days after running aground on Cerberus Rock within Chedabucto Bay off of Nova Scotia,"Fear Fuel Oil Leak From Ship", Ottawa Journal, February 5, 1970, p1 the oil tanker SS Arrow broke apart and began spilling its cargo of petroleum into the Nova Scotian waters."Oil Spreads As Tanker Snaps in Two", Ottawa Journal, February 9, 1970, p1 The discharge of of oil (over 11 million liters or 3 million U.S. gallons) and befouled of coastline. It remains the worst oil spill in Canadian history (the spill caused by the 1988 sinking of the supertanker Odyssey was from Nova Scotia and drifted away from Canada). The U.S. religious program Hour of Power made its debuted on KTLA in the Los Angeles television market as Christian evangelist Robert H. Schuller broadcast a videotape of his previous Sunday service from his Garden Grove Community Church in Garden Grove, California. A promotion for the show read "Rev. Robert Schuller, founder-pastor of the world's first walk-in, drive-in church and author of two books on the power of 'possibility thinking,' launches a weekly series of worship services from 6,000-member church, to air by one-week delay tapes.""Tele-Vues" section, p.10 of Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach CA), February 8, 1970 Born: Alonzo Mourning, American pro basketball player and Hall of Famer who played 16 seasons in the NBA from 1992 to 2008; in Chesapeake, Virginia Stephanie Courtney, American comedienne and actress best known as "Flo", the spokesperson for Progressive Insurance in more than 100 TV commercials; in Stony Point, New York
February 9, 1970 (Monday) An explosion in the kitchen of the Venezuelan merchant ship Pampatar, and the subsequent fire and panic in the evacuation, killed 24 of the 27 sailors on board."Blast Rips Ship, 24 of 27 Killed", Philadelphia Inquirer, February 10, 1970, p1 The ship was 10 miles off of the coast of La Guaira; the captain, Luis Martinez, survived and reported that some of the crewmen who jumped overboard had been attacked by sharks while awaiting rescue. Born: Glenn McGrath, Australian cricket bowler; in Dubbo, New South Wales Todd Rokita, Indiana U.S. congressman 2011–2019, current Attorney General of Indiana; in Chicago, Illinois
February 10, 1970 (Tuesday) An avalanche of snow killed at least 39 young skiers as it smashed into the bottom floors of a chalet at the Alpine resort of Val-d'Isère in France. At 8:05 in the morning, as residents were having breakfast, more than 100,000 cubic yards of snow and debris swept down the crest of the Le Dome mountain of the Vanoise Massif range. Residents had only seconds to get out after a tremendous roar heralded the approach of the debris."39 Die in Avalanche At French Ski Camp", Pittsburgh Post Gazette, February 11, 1970, p. 1 Born: Ardy Wiranata, Indonesian badminton player and 1991 Badminton World Cup men's singles champion; in Jakarta Died: Tobias Geffen, 99, American Jewish Orthodox rabbi who certified Coca-Cola as kosher after the company revealed the secret ingredients to him in 1935, and had made minor changes on his recommendation.
February 11, 1970 (Wednesday) Japan became the fourth nation (after the Soviet Union, the United States and France) to launch a rocket and a satellite into orbit, as it sent Ohsumi skyward from the Uchinoura Space Center near Kimotsuki on the island of Kyushu at 1:25 in the afternoon local time (04:25 UTC)"Japan Orbits First Satellite", Dayton (O.) Journal Herald, February 12, 1970, p. 1 Born: Fredrik Thordendal, Swedish heavy metal guitarist; in Umeå
February 12, 1970 (Thursday)