Jump on our Virtual Newsstand as we journey back to 1959. See and read the comic books on sale month by month, and find out the major news of the day.

January: Alaska, originally purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, is officially proclaimed the 49th state of the US.

February: A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa claims the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, 'The Big Bopper' & pilot Roger Peterson.

March: The Barbie doll, manufactured by Mattel goes on sale. Her creator, Ruth Handler, named Barbie after her daughter Barbara.

April: Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper & Deke Slayton become astronauts.

May: Two monkeys, Able & Miss Baker are the first animals to successfully return to Earth from space, aboard Jupiter AM-18.

June: USS George Washington, the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles, is launched at the Electric Boat Division in Groton.

July: Louis Leakey & his wife Mary discover the first skull of Australopithecus, in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.

August: The Mini, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis is launched, by the British Motor Corporation. It will become an icon of the 1960s.

September: Luna 2 is the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, crash landing near the craters Aristides, Archimedes & Autolycus.

October: The Guggenheim art museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright & located in Manhattan, opens its doors to the public.

November: MGM releases Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston. The movie, directed by William Wyler, will win 11 Academy Awards.

December: 12 countries sign the Antarctic Treaty declaring Antarctica a scientific preserve & banning military activity.