Categories
Man will conquer space soon
Collier’s Magazine publishes an extensive pictorial article with text by space pioneers Wernher von Braun and Willy Ley, and illustrations by Chesley Bonestell, positing a future with plane-like spacecraft making routine trips to orbiting space stations. The article suggests that the station could be a reality in ten years and “twice the cost of the atom bomb” if the public shows its support for space exploration. Though spaceplanes and stations are more than a decade away, the Collier’s article is a seminal moment in the space age.
The 81st episode of The Adventures Of Superman airs in syndication, starring George Reeves, Noel Neill, and Jack Larson.
ABC airs the 49th episode of the supernatural anthology series One Step Beyond, hosted and directed by John Newland. Yvette Mimieux (The Black Hole) guest stars.
The 28th episode of Irwin Allen’s adventure series Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea airs on ABC, starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison. Leslie Nielsen (Forbidden Planet, Airplane!) guest stars.
British broadcaster ABC airs the 104th episode of the spy-fi series The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg. Ron Moody (Into The Labyrinth) guest stars in the fourth season finale.
The 55th episode of Irwin Allen’s science fiction series Lost In Space premieres on CBS, starring Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Jonathan Harris.
The 
ABC airs the 51st and final episode of Irwin Allen’s sci-fi series Land Of The Giants, starring Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, and Don Marshall. Albert Salmi guest stars.
NBC airs the 29th episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, an anthology series of original short plays and short story adaptations hosted by Serling himself. Victor Buono (Batman) guest stars in the second season closer, and the first instance of a Night Gallery episode telling a single story in a half-hour time slot, which will become the show’s new format in its third season.
The 
With a budget of $8,000,000 behind him, writer/director George Lucas begins filming his ambitious new science fiction film Star Wars. The location shooting in Tunisia is far from easy, with every thing from dust storms to the language barrier between the filmmakers and the locals impeding progress.
The 
ITV airs the 13th episode of Roald Dahl’s anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected, hosted by the author himself and adapted from his short stories. Rod Taylor (The Birds, The Time Machine) and Cyril Cusack guest star.
The 
Soyuz 39 lifts off from the Soviet Union, carrying its two-man crew on a week-long spaceflight including a visit to space station Salyut 6. The crew consists of cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Jugderdemidiin Gurragchaa, the first Mongolian in space. In conjunction with the resident Salyut 6/Soyuz T-4 crew, they conduct scientific and engineering experiments, some of them studying the state of Salyut 6 after several years in orbit. The Soyuz 39 crew returns to Earth on March 30th.
The 
The testing phase of the shuttle program continues as Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off for her third flight into space. With Commander Jack Lousma and Pilot C. Gordon Fullerton aboard, Columbia stays in orbit for over a week, testing the orbiter’s endurance to heat at different angles to the sun, as well as testing the unmanned Spacelab experiment pallets in the cargo bay. This is the first shuttle flight to end on the contingency landing site at White Sands, New Mexico.
The 
Former Split Enz frontman 
The 12th and final episode of a modern reboot of Dan Curtis’ gothic horror series Dark Shadows is broadcast on NBC, starring Ben Cross, Lysette Anthony, Roy Thinnes (The Invaders), and Jean Simmons.
Fox airs 
Premium cable channel Showtime airs the 31st episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of Leslie Stevens’ 1960s science fiction anthology series. Bonnie Bedelia (Die Hard), Robert Ito (Buckaroo Banzai), and Donnelly Rhodes (Battlestar Galactica) guest star.
Fox airs the 13th episode of Tracy Torme’s alternate-universe science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, John Rhys Davies, Sabrina Lloyd, and Cleavant Derricks.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 76th shuttle mission, a flight to dock with the Russian space station Mir. Supplies are delivered to Mir by the Atlantis crew, and astronaut Shannon Lucid remains aboard Mir to join its Expedition 21 crew. Atlantis also carries the SPACEHAB module, where both the shuttle and station crews conduct joint scientific experiments. Aboard Atlantis for her 16th flight are Commander Kevin Chilton, Pilot Richard Searfoss, and mission specialists Shannon Lucid, Linda Godwin, Michael Clifford and Ronald Sega.
The fourth episode of the time-travel/crime series Crime Traveller is broadcast on BBC1, created and written by Anthony Horowitz (Foyle’s War), starring Michael French (Casualty) and Chloe Annett (Red Dwarf). 
Pay cable channel Showtime airs the 101st episode of Stargate SG-1. Cliff Simon, Carmen Argenziano, and Anna-Louise Plowman guest star.
The 37th episode of James Cameron & Charles H. Eglee’s cyberpunk series Dark Angel, starring Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, airs on Fox. Ashley Scott (Birds Of Prey, Jericho) and Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica) guest star.
Pay cable channel Showtime premieres 
ABC airs the 
NASA’s Spirit Mars rover makes its last contact with ground controllers on Earth. With the Martian winter fast approaching, and the rover’s wheels leaving it stuck in an unfavorable position to keep its solar panels angled toward the sun, Spirit gradually loses power until it shuts off, its mission having lasted nearly seven and a half years – almost 30 times its original design and mission lifespan of 90 days. Spirit’s ground controllers are reassigned to either Opportunity (which is still mobile and operating) or the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover mission.