What was going on when I was born?

Kennedy and La Guardia airports would be allowed to have more landings and takeoffs at peak hours, and Newark far fewer, under Government suggestions outlined today. Airline officials heard the suggestions at the first of several meetings they are holding to devise a voluntary industry plan for easing air traffic congestion and flight delays at six major airports in the nation: the three New York airports, Hartsfield International at Atlanta, O'Hare at Chicago and Stapleton at Denver. 'Guidelines' to Consider The Federal Aviation Administration said the suggestions were ''guidelines'' for the industry to consider in its talks. Edward P. Faberman, acting chief counsel of the F.A.A., told the meeting, held in suburban Crystal City, Va., that the agency would impose its own plan if the industry failed to adopt a plan to ease congestion.

''We've got a good bird there.'' - Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., commander of the space shuttle Discovery.

New-car sales rose 11.6 percent, on a daily selling rate basis, in the Aug. 21-31 period, the six major American manufacturers reported here today. The companies - General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, American Motors, Volkswagen of America and American Honda - said dealers delivered a total of 237,078 new cars, bringing the seasonally adjusted annual rate to 7.8 million units. However, the adjusted rate for the entire month of August was 7.7 million units - down from 8.4 million in July and the lowest for any month this year, although much improved from August 1983, when it was 6.6 million. Industry analysts said the August decline, while slightly greater than some estimates, was expected because car sales have been higher than normal for several months. They said low inventory levels and spot shortages of the best-selling cars slowed August sales.

An article in Sports Pages Tuesday about Jim Jensen of the Miami Dolphins misidentified his alma mater. It is Boston University.

When the NEC Corporation introduced a new family of microprocessors last spring, it marked a watershed for the Japanese semiconductor industry. Japanese companies have already achieved well-publicized success in the market for memory chips, or circuits that store data in computers. United States manufacturers were alarmed when the Japanese captured the world market for two popular memory chips, known as the 64K and the 256K dynamic RAM's, or random access memories. But now the Japanese are trying to move beyond RAM's into more complex chips requiring more design innovation. NEC's move into microprocessors, the chips that serve as the brains of personal computers, is the boldest step in this direction, and one that is far from certain to succeed.

Braniff Inc., in a major strategy shift, announced yesterday that it was transforming itself in the next few weeks into a low-cost airline with unrestricted fares. Patrick Foley, vice chairman, said in a statement that Braniff ''is changing its direction.'' He added: ''Braniff will be leaner, more compact and more efficient. Our service will be directed toward the needs of the public and our fare structure will be simple and economical.''

T HIS month children as young as 2 and 3 years will be toddling off to school for the first time - an adventure that will prove traumatic for some and just mildly strange for others. At a number of preschools in the city the mothers will be asked to allay their children's anxieties by remaining in the classroom or down the hall for the first few days. As the youngsters grow attached to their teachers and classmates - and when they can finally say goodbye to their mothers without re-enacting the death scene from ''Camille'' - both parents and children will have made it through an inevitable and sometimes agonizing process called separation. Educators are paying careful attention to the separation experiences of 1- , 2- and 3-year-olds, in part because such separations are more prevalent: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of working mothers having children under age 3 has doubled in the last 15 years, with 46 percent now in the labor force.

Brian Mulroney and his Progressive Conservative Party, which on Tuesday won the biggest political majority in Canadian history, appear to have fundamentally changed the country's political landscape. The result, wrote Richard Gwyn, a columnist for The Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, ''almost certainly made the Conservatives the majority party for the rest of this century.'' Liberals - as well as members of the New Democratic Party, which fared unexpectedly well - would debate that. But the returns clearly marked a setback for Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party, which has run Canada for most of this century. Even more, however, it reflected dissatisfaction with Canada's stagnant economy and lack of a sense of direction.

A chart last Thursday, with an article on Soviet space-shuttle capacity, was incorrectly attributed. It was adapted from the work of C. P. Vick in the magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology.

The space shuttle Discovery returned from its successful six-day maiden flight today, swooping out of the clear blue desert sky, turning before the hills as the sun was rising, and gliding to a smooth landing here on a dry lakebed runway. Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration used words like ''pleased'' and ''proud,'' ''delighted'' and ''ecstatic'' in describing the performance of the six-member crew and their spaceship. All the mission's objectives, they said, were accomplished. Indeed, the successful flight came at a key time for NASA, a time when the space agency is planning to accelerate the shuttle program. One mission a month is to be undertaken in the next 15 months. And the flight followed a series of recent disruptive malfunctions and delays in the program.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 International Formal oppositon to genocide was expressed by the Reagan Administration as it announced support for a 36- year-old United Nations convention against the practice. The convention has been opposed by right-wing groups and Southern senators on the ground it might interfere with state laws. (Page A1, Column 4.) Three Soviet astronauts who have been orbiting the earth since Feb. 8 equalled an endurance record of 211 days in space. (B10:4-6.)

Because of a transmission error, an article Aug. 26 on Congressional election prospects misstated results of Democratic Party polling. The party's late June poll found, among those who had made up their minds about Congressional races, 60 percent support for Democratic candidates and 40 percent support for Republicans.