Year: 1983

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight Salyut

Kosmos 1443

  • March 2, 1983

Salyut 7The Soviet Union launches an unmanned module, Kosmos 1443, on a trajectory that will bring it to the Salyut 7 space station for an automated docking. Once connected to Salyut 7, Kosmos 1443 provides extra habitable space for experiments and storage. A hardware holdover from the abandoned Almaz military space station program of the early 1970s, Kosmos remains docked to Salyut 7 through August 1983, at which time it is undocked and jettisoned, falling out of orbit and burning up in Earth’s atmosphere in September.

Categories
Communications Music Science & Technology

Exporting the Compact Disc

  • March 2, 1983

Compact DiscFor the first time, Compact Disc players and pre-recorded CDs appear in the English-speaking world (having been available in Japan since late 1982. The first label to embrace the new digital format is CBS Records, which publishes 16 existing titles on CD ranging from classical to rock. The technology has been developed jointly by Philips and Sony since the 1970s.

Categories
Atari VCS Video Games

Sorcerer

  • March 7, 1983

SorcererUpstart video game manufacturer Mythicon releases Sorcerer for the Atari 2600. One of only three games issued by Mythicon before it goes out of business, and considered one of the worst games ever made for the 2600, Sorcerer is designed to be sold at a low price point at drug stores and other retail venues not normally associated with video games.

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Categories
Video Games

Discs Of Tron

  • March 10, 1983

Discs Of TronMidway releases the arcade game Discs Of Tron in American arcades. The second coin-op game based on the movie Tron, this game was originally devised as an additional “stage” of the original Tron coin-op until designers split it off into its own game. The “environmental” cabinet, allowing players to stand inside the brightly black-lit game, becomes a legend of arcade architecture.

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Categories
Doctor Who Television

Doctor Who: The King’s Demons, Part 2

  • March 16, 1983

Doctor WhoThe 601st episode of Doctor Who airs on BBC1. Anthony Ainley guest stars as the Master, and the episode introduces a robotic companion intended to be portrayed by a real robot, Kamelion. Kamelion’s designer dies prior to production, however, leaving minimal documentation for the robot’s operation; Kamelion’s further appearances are written out of the show and the robot only makes one further appearance. This brings Doctor Who’s 20th season to a close; the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors, airs later in the year as a stand-alone with a budget and production schedule separate from the rest of the season’s episodes.

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Categories
Television

Special Bulletin

  • March 20, 1983

Special BulletinNBC premieres the two-hour TV movie Special Bulletin, presented in the style of a live breaking news report, and conceived, written, and directed by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (later creators of the late ’80s series Thirtysomething). As is often the case with fictional presentations produced in the style of a news broadcast, some audience members are genuinely alarmed by the movie, despite frequent on-screen disclaimers advising those watching that it is just a movie.

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Categories
Video Games

Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator

  • March 21, 1983

Star Trek: Strategic Operations SimulatorSegaa releases the arcade game Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator in American arcades. The vector graphics coin-op, simulating the “tactical views” seen on the Enterprise in the first two Star Trek movies, is the first officially licensed Star Trek video game. It also reflects some corporate synergy: Sega was, at the time, also owned by Paramount Pictures parent company Gulf + Western.

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Categories
Challenger Crewed Spaceflight Space Shuttle

STS-6: Challenger’s first flight

  • April 4, 1983

ChallengerSpace Shuttle Challenger lifts off into orbit for the first time, after extensive technical and mechanical issues keep the shuttle on the pad well past its original January launch date. The payload for this flight is NASA’s own TDRS (Tracking & Data Relay Satellite), designed to keep the shuttle in constant contact with ground controllers even if its orbit takes it out of direct communications. The five-day flight also sees the first spacewalk of the shuttle program. Challenger’s crew consists of Commander Paul Weitz, Pilot Karol Bobko, and mission specialists Donald Peterson and Story Musgrave.