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Crewed Spaceflight Soyuz

Soyuz 18a: “The April 5th Anomaly”

SoyuzThe two-man crew selected to become the second group of occupants for the Soviet Union’s Salyut 4 space station nearly rockets into disaster. Interstage connectors, intended to open simultaneously to allow the third stage of the booster to carry the Soyuz spacecraft into orbit, fail to open on cue, leaving the third stage dragging the dead weight of the spent second stage, changing the trajectory of the entire vehicle. The Soyuz capsule carrying cosmonauts Vasili Lazarev and Oleg Makarov is blasted free, and the two men experience acceleration of 23 Gs as the capsule roars toward a bruisingly rough emergency landing. As if that’s not bad enough, the Soyuz capsule lands perilously close to the USSR’s border with China, and rescue crews spend over 24 hours looking for the crew. The usually secretive Soviet space agency reluctantly reveals details of the mission to NASA, with whom they are collaborating ahead of the historic Apollo-Soyuz joint launch.

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Video Games

Tube Panic

Tube PanicMixing video highway hypnosis and a strangely hummable theme song, Japanese video game Tube Panic, from the makers of Crazy Climber and Moon Cresta, first appears in American arcades. Players have to fight motion sickness to keep blasting away at bad guys. The game achieves minor cult status but fails to become a smash hit at a time when arcade manufacturers desperately need one.

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Television

Robin Of Sherwood: Herne’s Son, Part 1

Robin Of SherwoodThe 14th episode of Richard Carpenter’s fanciful retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Robin Of Sherwood, airs on ITV, starring Jason Connery, Mark Ryan, Judi Trott, and Nickolas Grace. Richard O’Brien (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) guest stars in the third season premiere, which also introduces Jason Connery (son of James Bond actor Sean Connery) as Robert of Huntingdon, who takes on the mantle of Robin Hood for the remainder of the series following Michael Praed’s departure.

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Television

The Flash: Captain Cold

The FlashThe 17th episode of the superhero series The Flash, based on the DC Comics character, airs on CBS, starring John Wesley Shipp and Amanda Pays. Michael Champion and Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) guest star.

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Atlantis Crewed Spaceflight Space Shuttle

STS-37

Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on a mission to deploy the orbiting Gamma Ray Observatory satellite. When the high-gain antenna fails to deploy on GRO, the first unplanned spacewalk since 1985 is conducted, with two of the astronauts manually releasing the antenna. Manning Atlantis for nearly six days are Commander Steven Nagel, Pilot Kenneth Cameron, and mission specialists Jerry Ross, Jay Apt and Linda Godwin.

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Television

Mann & Machine: Prototype

Mann & MachineThe first episode of the science fiction police series Mann & Machine, co-created by Dick Wolf and Robert de Laurentiis, is broadcast on NBC, starring David Andrews and Yancy Butler. Samantha Eggar guest stars.

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Television

The Outer Limits: The Refuge

The Outer LimitsPremium cable channel Showtime airs the 32nd episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of Leslie Stevens’ 1960s science fiction anthology series. Jessica Steen (Captain Power) guest stars in an episode written by Alan Brennert.

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Television

Crime Traveller: Death Minister

Crime TravellerThe sixth 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). Ken Bones (Doctor Who) guest stars.

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Television

From The Earth To The Moon: Night 1

From The Earth To The MoonPay cable channel HBO premieres its heavily-promoted docudrama miniseries From The Earth To The Moon, executive produced by actor Tom Hanks (Apollo 13) through Ron Howard’s Imagine Films. The series chronicles NASA’s quest to reach the moon, and two episodes debut each Sunday of the show’s run. The first night covers Sputnik through the Gemini program in the episode Can We Do This?, and then devotes a full hour to the Apollo One fire and its aftermath. Nick Searcy stars as Deke Slayton, with Mark Rolston as Gus Grissom, musician/actor Chris Isaak as Ed White, and David Andrews as Frank Borman. Kevin Spacey, Mason Adams and John Slattery (Mad Men) guest star.

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Music

The Omega Man soundtrack

The Omega ManFilm Score Monthly releases a limited edition CD of the soundtrack from the 1971 Charlton Heston science fiction movie The Omega Man, whose music was composed by Ron Grainer (best known for his UK TV themes, such as Doctor Who and The Prisoner). The limited pressing of 3,000 copies sells out in record time; an unlimited pressing with slightly different content will be re-released by FSM’s Retrograde Records label in 2008.

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Television

Dark Angel: Hello, Goodbye

Dark AngelThe 38th 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 Rekha Sharma (Battlestar Galactica) guest star.

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