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Apollo Crewed Spaceflight

Apollo 17: the last man on the moon

Apollo 17The final manned lunar landing mission lifts off atop a Saturn V rocket. Apollo 17 is the first mission to include a qualified geologist, Harrison Schmitt, in its crew; Gene Cernan and Schmitt descend to the surface aboard the lunar lander Challenger, where the last two men to walk on the moon spend a total of 22 hours exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley. For the third mission in a row, a lunar rover is stowed into one side of the lander. Astronaut Ron Evans orbits overhead in the command/service module America. The astronauts return on December 19th, bringing home nearly 250 pounds of lunar soil and rock samples.

This mission is dramatized in the La Voyage Dans La Lune episode of HBO’s 1998 series From The Earth To The Moon.

Categories
Science & Technology Uncrewed Spaceflight Weather & Climate

Nimbus 5

NimbusNASA launches the Nimbus 5 satellite, designed to observe weather patterns from orbit and test new weather and climate detection technologies. Launched into a polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Nimbus 5 includes newly-developed experiments to examine Earth in the microwave and infrared portions of the spectrum.

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Television

Ghost Story: Time Of Terror

Ghost StoryNBC airs the 14th episode of the supernatural anthology series Ghost Story, produced by 1960s horror movie mogul William Castle and starring Sebastian Cabot. Patricia Neal and Craig Stevens guest star. This is the final episode to air under the “Ghost Story” banner; the series will be retitled Circle Of Fear when it returns to the schedule in 1973.

More about Ghost Story and Circle Of Fear in the LogBook

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Doctor Who Television

Doctor Who: The Three Doctors, Part 1

Doctor WhoThe 330th episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. This is the series’ first “multi-Doctor” celebratory story, featuring Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor, with appearances by William Hartnell as the first Doctor (though Hartnell’s participation in the story has been significantly reduced due to his failing health; he never appears on set with his successors, appearing only in pre-recorded film inserts). Stephen Thorne guest stars as Omega. Oddly, given the timing of this episode’s broadcast, the “tenth anniversary story” begins airing closer to the ninth anniversary of Doctor Who’s premiere than its tenth.

More about Doctor Who in the LogBook
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