May 17 – Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II, to sail the Atlantic Ocean. May 26 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2. May 31 The 7.9 Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794 and 70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured. The 1970 FIFA World Cup is inaugurated in Mexico. June June 1 – Soyuz 9, a two-man spacecraft, is launched in the Soviet Union. June 4 – Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom. June 8 – A coup in Argentina brings a new junta of service chiefs; on June 18, Roberto M. Levingston becomes President. June 12 – NDFLOAG guerrillas attack military garrisons at Izki and Nizwa in Oman. June 19 – The Patent Cooperation Treaty is signed into international law, providing a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions. June 21 – Brazil defeats Italy 4–1 to win the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. July July 3 All 112 people on board Dan-Air Flight 1903 are killed when the British De Havilland Comet crashes into mountains north of Barcelona. The French Army detonates a 914 kiloton thermonuclear device in the Mururoa Atoll. It is the fifth in a series that started on June 15 in their program to perfect a hydrogen bomb small enough to be delivered by a missile. July 5 – Air Canada Flight 621 crashes near Toronto International Airport, Toronto, Ontario; all 109 passengers and crew are killed. July 12 – Thor Heyerdahl's papyrus boat Ra II arrives in Barbados. July 21 – The Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed. July 23 – 1970 Omani coup d'état: Said bin Taimur, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, is deposed in a bloodless palace coup by his son, Qaboos. July 30 – Damages totalling £485,528 are awarded to 28 Thalidomide victims. August August 11 – Creation of the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts in Confolens, France. August 17 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched toward Venus. It later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet. August 31 - An annular solar eclipse is visible in Oceania, and is the 14th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 144. September September 1 –