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Television

Dark Angel: She Ain’t Heavy

Dark AngelThe 40th 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) guest stars.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

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Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Soyuz

Soyuz TMA-4 / ISS Expedition 9

Soyuz TMA-4The ninth full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-4. Gennady Padalka and Michael Fincke take up residence on the ISS for 187 days. Arriving with them on the ISS for a ten-day stay is Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, who returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-3 with the Expedition 8 crew.

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Deaths Matters of Life & Death

Elisabeth Sladen, Doctor Who actress, dies

Elisabeth SladenActress Elisabeth Sladen, possibly the performer who has maintained the longest on-screen association with a Doctor Who character in the history of the franchise, dies at the age of 65. In 1973, the producers of Doctor Who had hired another actress to play the part of new companion Sarah Jane Smith, only to meet with strenuous objections from series lead Jon Pertwee. Elisabeth Sladen was then cast in the part, continuing to play Sarah Jane through 1976, one of the longest-running companions in the original series. Numerous times she had been approached to reprise her role, only agreeing to do so in 1981 in her own spinoff, K-9 & Company, which never made it past the pilot stage. After reprising the role of Sarah Jane for Big Finish’s audio spinoff series centered around the character, she was asked to play the part again – on television – alongside David Tennant, sparking new interest in the character and ultimately leading to her own spinoff series, The Sarah Jane Adventures. Filming of the fifth season of that series had been put on hold while she was admitted to the hospital.

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Crewed Spaceflight Discovery Space Shuttle

Discovery retired

Space ShuttleHaving completed its last mission, Space Shuttle Discovery is retired, stripped of working engine parts and other items, and donated to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum by NASA. The workhorse of the shuttle fleet, Discovery flew in space 39 times starting in 1984, visiting both Mir and the International Space Station, and racking up a cumulative total of an entire year in orbit. Discovery takes the place of the test orbiter, Enterprise, which has been on display at the Smithsonian since the 1980s.

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Television

The Expanse: Caliban’s War

The ExpanseThe 23rd episode of the science fiction series The Expanse, based on the series of novels by James S.A. Corey (a pseudonym for writers Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham), is broadcast on cable channel Syfy. Terry Chen (Continuum) and Adam Savage (Mythbusters) guest star in the second season finale.

The Expanse now streaming on Amazon Prime