ITV airs the 103rd episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Joan HAckett guest stars in the eighth season finale; the series will resume in late 1987.
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For the first and only time in the history of the shuttle program, Space Shuttle Challenger does an in-flight abort maneuver – in this case, an Abort To Orbit (ATO) following the premature shutdown of one of the shuttle’s main engines. The potentially catastrophic shutdown of a second engine is narrowly avoided by a sharp-eyed ground controller, and Challenger makes it to orbit and the rest of the mission is conducted normally.
GNP Crescendo releases the first-ever CD of Alexander Courage’s music from the original Star Trek television series, presenting selections from the two pilot episodes, The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before. This is the first time that music from the original series has been presented, other than countless recordings and remakes of the main title theme.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on a mission to deliver three communications satellites to orbit. The triple payload includes SYNCOM IV-4, the Australian AUSSAT-1 satellite, and American Satellite Company’s ASC-1. Discovery is manned on this mission by Commander Joe Engle, Pilot Richard Covey, and mission specialists James van Hoften, John Lounge and William Fisher. The mission lasts one week, and Discovery is able to return home a day early after achieving mission objectives ahead of time.
Konami introduces the arcade game Rush’n Attack in the United States, while the same game – with no changes to its hand-to-hand military fighting action – is released elsewhere as Green Beret.
ABC broadcasts the first episode of the animated Star Wars spinoff series Droids, featuring the voice of Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. The series chronicles the adventures of Threepio and R2-D2 in the years before the movie trilogy.
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The International Cometary Explorer satellite – originally launched as International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 in 1978 – reaches the culmination of a series of complex orbital changes: a flyby of Comet Giacobini-Zinner, within 5,000 miles of the nucleus, primarily to sample and study the comet’s plasma tail and the interaction between that and the solar wind. ISEE-3 was not equipped with cameras at launch, so no imagery of the comet is obtained. The success of this flyby emboldens mission planners who hope to send it onward to study Halley’s Comet early in 1986, as part of a backup plan to use existing NASA spacecraft to study Halley in lieu of a specialized vehicle that would’ve been launched by space shuttle in 1986 (cancelled in the wake of the Challenger disaster).
ABC broadcasts the second episode of the animated Star Wars spinoff series Droids, featuring the voice of Anthony Daniels as C-3PO.
Warner Bros. Records releases the Todd Rundgren album A Capella, an album whose “instruments” are all samples of Rundgren’s own voice.
The Soviet Union launches the Soyuz T-14 mission, carrying a crew of three cosmonauts intended to become the next long-term occupants of space station Salyut 7. The crew consists of Vladimir Vasyutin, Georgi Grechko and Alexander Volkov, though Grechko only remains until September 26th, returning to Earth with the Soyuz T-13 crew. Two months into the crew’s stay on Salyut, however, Vasyutin becomes seriously ill. Communications between the station and ground controllers are carried out on a scrambled frequency for a week, at which point the crew is recalled to Earth, ending an occupancy that was meant to last for half a year. Soyuz T-14 returns to Earth, carring Vasyutin, Volkov and Soyuz T-13 crew member Viktor Savinykh home on November 21st, once again leaving Salyut 7 unoccupied for several months.
ABC broadcasts the third episode of the animated Star Wars spinoff series Droids, featuring the voice of Anthony Daniels as C-3PO.
CBS airs the first episode of a modern revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Bruce Willis stars in an adaptation of a Harlan Ellison story, while Melinda Dillon stars in a second segment. Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street) directs both stories.
ABC broadcasts the fourth episode of the animated Star Wars spinoff series Droids, featuring the voice of Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. This episode marks the first appearance of a movie character other than the droids themselves.
The first episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC. The name of the show is licensed from the publisher of Hugo Gernsback’s science fiction literary magazine, which has been in publication since the 1920s. Many of the episodes come from story sketches by Spielberg, assigned to other writers; this is one of only two to be directed by Spielberg as well. Lukas Haas and Roberts Blossom guest star.
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The Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation releases a new version of the perennial favorite educational computer game The Oregon Trail for the Apple II computer. Now featuring more action-based sequences than purely textual interactions, this version of The Oregon Trail is the most recognizable iteration of the game, which will be ported to numerous other computer systems.
The unmanned Kosmos 1686 module, launched by the Soviet Union in September, successfully completes an automated docking with space station Salyut 7. This new module is a permanent addition to the final Salyut station, offering more habitable space for work and storage aboard the aging station. Kosmos 1686 arrives with nearly 10,000 pounds of supplies and consumables, and serves as a case study to help engineers plan the upcoming Mir space station, which is designed from the outset to consist of several add-on modules.
The inaugural flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis takes the newest orbiter on a four-day Defense Department mission (the specifics of which remain classified). Manning Atlantis for this flight are Commander Karol Bobko, Pilot Ronald Grabe, and mission specialists David Hilmers, Robert Stewart and William Pailes.
CBS airs the second episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Annie Potts (Ghostbusters), Meg Foster, and Terry O’Quinn (Lost) star in three short stories; Wes Craven (A Nightmare On Elm Street) directs two of them.
The first episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, premieres on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall (Predator, Harry And The Hendersons), and Courteney Cox (Friends, Scream, Cougar Town). Larry Linville (M*A*S*H) guest stars.
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Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast
ABC broadcasts the fifth episode of the animated Star Wars spinoff series Droids, featuring the voice of Anthony Daniels as C-3PO.
The second episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC. John Scott Clough (St. Elsewhere) stars.
More about Amazing Stories in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Amazing Stories now streaming on Amazon Prime
CBS airs the third episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Eric Bogosian, Lorna Luft, and Jeffrey DeMunn star in three short stories.
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With $4 billion having been spent on upgrading and customizing a special launch facility since 1972 to handle (mostly military) Space Shuttle launches in polar orbits, Vandenberg AFB declares Space Launch Complex 6 launch-ready, with a year to go before the first scheduled polar orbit shuttle launch. But in 1986, amid jitters in the wake of the Challenger disaster, planned use of the west coast launch facility is curtailed and finally cancelled, despite the money and time spent.
CBS airs the fourth episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Dee Wallace-Stone (E.T.) and Scott Grimes (The Orville) star in three short stories, including one directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist).
This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
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The second episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, airs on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall (Predator, Harry And The Hendersons), and Courteney Cox (Friends, Scream, Cougar Town). Dean Devlin (future writer/producer of Stargate and Independence Day) guest stars.
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Nintendo releases Wrecking Crew for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Possibly the most obscure NES game to feature Mario, this is one of very few Mario games to continue the idea – established in Donkey Kong – that Mario is a construction worker rather than a plumber with super powers.
The third episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC. Kelly Reno (The Black Stallion) stars.
More about Amazing Stories in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Amazing Stories now streaming on Amazon Prime
CBS airs the fifth episode of a revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Tony Lo Bianco and David Dukes star in an episode comprised of two short stories.
This series is not yet fully chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
More about The Twilight Zone in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
The Twilight Zone now streaming on Paramount Plus
The third episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, airs on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall (Predator, Harry And The Hendersons), and Courteney Cox (Friends, Scream, Cougar Town). James Sloyan (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest stars.
This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.
The fourth episode of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series Amazing Stories airs on NBC; this is effectively the series’ Halloween special. Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers) stars.
More about Amazing Stories in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Amazing Stories now streaming on Amazon Prime
