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Surveyor Uncrewed Spaceflight

Surveyor 7 lands on the moon

SurveyorSurveyor 7, the last of NASA’s robotic moon landers, comes to a smooth landing on the moon’s Tycho Crater. Packed with more scientific instrument packages than any of its predecessors, Surveyor 7 studies the amount of dust kicked up by its retro rockets during landing, and lands closer to its planned target than any of the other Surveyors. Another experiment involves a test to see if a laser beam originated from Earth can be picked up by Surveyor’s cameras.

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Crewed Spaceflight Salyut Soyuz

Soyuz 27

Soyuz 27The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 27 on a mission to the Salyut 6 space station – the first instance of three vehicles being docked together in space. Cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Oleg Makarov spend six days with the crew of Soyuz 26 board the station, although Dzhanibekov and Makarov swap capsules with the station crew, leaving the newer vehicle at the station for their eventual return. The crew of Soyuz 27 is in space for less than a week, but their spacecraft remains in orbit, connected to Salyut, for over two months.

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Television

Misfits Of Science: Grand Elusion

Misfits Of ScienceThe 11th episode of James D. Parriott’s lighthearted sci-fi series, Misfits Of Science, airs on NBC, starring Dean Paul Martin, Kevin Peter Hall, and Courteney Cox. John Schuck (Holmes & Yoyo, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) guest stars.

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Television

The Flash: Sight Unseen

The FlashThe tenth episode of the superhero series The Flash, based on the DC Comics character, airs on CBS, starring John Wesley Shipp and Amanda Pays. Christopher Neame (Blake’s 7, Doctor Who) guest stars.

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Astronomy Science & Technology

Mars in asteroid’s crosshairs

MarsAstronomers put the red planet on red alert after predicting 1-in-75 odds for an asteroid to collide with Mars on or near January 30th. The asteroid, discovered in November 2007, is on a trajectory that poses no threat to Earth but has better-than-usual odds of packing quite a wallop for Mars. The impact, if it does happen, could take place on the equator, near the Opportunity rover’s stomping (or, perhaps, roving) grounds, though NASA says it would pose no risk to Opportunity. A crater as large as Arizona’s Meteor Crater could be carved out of the Martian surface by any direct hit that does happen. Scientists prepare to watch the event with keen interest, as this event would be potentially cataclysmic if Earth was in danger, but provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for observation on Mars.

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Astronomy Science & Technology

SOFIA spots a black hole

The black holeNASA reveals that its Boeing-747-mounted SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) telescope, during a 2011 flight in which its sensitive infrared sensors were aimed at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, captured an image of the super-massive black hole at the heart of the galaxy. A disc of dust and gas circling the center of the galaxy – seven light years across – lights up the image. The black hole is believed to have a mass of over four million times that of Earth’s sun.

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Television X-Files

The X-Files: This

The X-FilesThe 209th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Mitch Pileggi and Dean Haglund guest star.

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Television

The Orville: Home

The OrvilleFox airs the 15th episode of the science fiction comedy-drama The Orville, starring and created by Seth McFarlane. Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager), John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise), and Patrick Warburton (The Tick, A Series Of Unfortunate Events) guest star in an episode that marks the departure of series regular Halston Sage.

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