February 3

Ansgar, the missionary archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen remembered as the 'Apostle of the North,' died at Bremen.

Sheng Yen, the scholar-monk and Chan teacher who founded Taiwan's Dharma Drum Mountain community, died at age 79.

The Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon and transmit photographs from its surface, touching down in the Ocean of Storms.