Editing 1963 in science (section)

==Astronomy, astrophysics and space exploration==
* January 1 – Long-period [[comet]] [[C/1963 A1 (Ikeya)]] is discovered by a Japanese amateur.
* January 4 – Soviet [[Luna E-6 No.2|Luna]] reaches [[Earth]] orbit but fails to reach the Moon.
* May 15 – [[Mercury program]]: [[NASA]] launches the last mission of the program [[Mercury 9]]. (On June 12 NASA Administrator [[James E. Webb]] tells Congress the program is complete.)
* July 26 – [[Roy Kerr]] submits for publication his discovery of the [[Kerr metric]], an [[Exact solutions in general relativity|exact solution]] to the [[Einstein field equation]] of [[general relativity]], predicting a [[rotating black hole]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kerr|first=R. P.|title=Gravitational field of a spinning mass as an example of algebraically special metrics|journal=[[Physical Review Letters]]|year=1963|volume=11|issue=5|pages=237–238|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.11.237|bibcode=1963PhRvL..11..237K}}</ref>
* October 18 – Aboard the French [[Véronique (rocket)|Véronique]] AGI 47 [[sounding rocket]], a [[bicolor cat]] designated C 341, later known as [[Félicette]], becomes the first cat in space.
* November 1 – The [[Arecibo Observatory]], with the world's largest single-dish [[radio telescope]], officially opens in [[Arecibo, Puerto Rico]].
* First definite identification of a radio source, [[3C 48]], with an optical object, later identified as a [[quasar]], is published by [[Allan Sandage]] and [[Thomas A. Matthews]];<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Matthews|first1=Thomas A.|author-link=Thomas A. Matthews|last2=Sandage|first2=Allan R.|author2-link=Allan Sandage|title=Optical Identification of 3c 48, 3c 196, and 3c 286 with Stellar Objects|date=1963|journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal]]|volume=138|pages=30–56|bibcode=1963ApJ...138...30M|doi=10.1086/147615|doi-access=free}}</ref> also [[Maarten Schmidt]] publishes significant observations on [[3C 273]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schmidt|first=Maarten|title=3C 273: a star-like object with large red-shift|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|year=1963|volume=197|issue=4872|page=1040|bibcode=1963Natur.197.1040S|doi=10.1038/1971040a0|doi-access=free}}</ref>