British broadcaster ABC airs the fifth episode of Pathfinders To Venus, a follow-up series to Pathfinders In Mars, produced by future Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman. George Colouris and Gerald Flood (City Beneath The Sea) star; the script is written by Malcolm Hulke (Doctor Who) and Eric Paice (Star Maidens). Though the original master tape of this episode was later wiped for reuse, film recordings of all eight episodes will be recovered and released on DVD in the 21st century.
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An unmanned Soviet lunar lander, Luna 4, is launched from the USSR’s Baikonur Cosmodrome. Unlike Luna 2, which intentionally crashed into the moon with no attempt to slow its approach, Luna 4 is the first atempt at a vehicle intended to survive its descent to the lunar surface and make observations from the ground. A failed course correction engine burn leaves the 3,000-pound vehicle in a wide, looping orbit around the Earth, unable to reach the moon at all. The Soviet Union, after several more attempts, will eventually achieve the first unmanned soft landing on the surface of the moon three years later.
The Soviet Union launches the space probe Zond 1 toward Venus, a more sophisticated version of the Venera 1 vehicle sent to that planet in 1961. Thanks to an electrical short within the Zond space probe, ground controllers lose all contact a month after it leaves Earth; by the time it swings past Venus at over 60,000 miles months later, Zond 1 has shut down completely.
The 111th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part one of the story now collectively known as
The 26th episode of the time travel sitcom It’s About Time, created by Sherwood Schwarz (I Dream Of Jeannie) and starring Frank Aletter, Jack Mullaney, and Imogene Coca, is broadcast on CBS. This episode, the final one shown, is left over from the original formulation of the series premise, in which the astronauts were stranded in the stone age.
The product of a four-year collaboration between visionary SF writer Arthur C. Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick, MGM’s
The
The sixth episode of Harold Jack Bloom’s sci-fi series Project UFO airs on NBC, portraying fictionalized investigations into what the show claims are actual cases from the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book investigations. William Jordan and Caskey Swaim star. Scott Hylands (Night Heat, V) and Brian Tochi (Space Academy) guest star.
The ninth episode of the series Salvage 1 airs on ABC, starring Andy Griffith, Joel Higgins, and Trish Stewart. Richard Jaeckel (Spenser For Hire) and Moses Gunn (Shaft, Father Murphy) guest star.
Microsoft enters the computer hardware business with a Z80 processor card for the Apple II computer. This peripheral allows the Apple II to run the CP/M operating system and Microsoft BASIC (the Apple II is well on its way to dominating the home computer market at this point). Selling it for nearly $350 is responsible for bringing in the bulk of Microsoft’s revenue between now and the introduction of Microsoft DOS for the IBM PC.
Data East releases the arcade video game 
The week-long national syndication window opens for
The 40th episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman airs on ABC, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Charles Napier, Erick Avari, and Michelle Phillips guest star.
Showtime airs the 95th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Dale Midkiff (Time Trax) guest stars in an episode directed by Lou Diamond Phillips.
Sci-Fi Channel airs the 66th episode of the science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, Cleavant Derricks, Kari Wuhrer, and Charlie O’Connell. Malcolm Jamal-Warner (The Cosby Show, Jeremiah) guest stars.
Sci-Fi Channel premieres the
Sci-Fi Channel premieres
The 155th episode of Chris Carter’s modern-day science fiction series The X-Files airs on Fox, starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Michelle Joyner guest stars.
Sci-Fi Channel premieres
The
Bridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the
UPN airs
UPN airs
Just a week after the series’ revival,
BBC1 airs the first segment of
Part of the 23rd full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-18. Aleksandr Skvortsov, Mikhail Korniyenko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson take up residence on the ISS for 164 days, becoming part of the Expedition 23/24 crews. All three return to Earth in September 2010 aboard the same vehicle.
The 41st episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest star.