The third episode of the syndicated science fiction Science Fiction Theatre airs on stations across the U.S. Hosted by Truman Bradley, the episode stars Richard Arlen and Jess Barker.
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The 53rd episode of The Adventures Of Superman airs in syndication, starring George Reeves, Noel Neill, and Jack Larson. Sterling Holloway guest stars in the third season premiere, and the first episode of the series to be filmed in color.
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British broadcaster ABC airs the eighth and final episode of Pathfinders To Venus, concluding the overarching storyline that began with Target Luna in 1960. 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. This is a rare instance of an episode of the Pathfinders saga not directed by Guy Verney; Reginald Collin (The Edward Woodward Hour, Callan) directs. Series producer Sydney Newman, who initiated Target Luna and its spinoffs (as well as such shows as The Avengers) defects to the BBC shortly after the completion of this series; his genre projects at the BBC will include the anthology Out Of This World (which will later be revived as Out Of The Unknown with Newman’s hand-picked protege Irene Shubik producing) and a series that will eventually premiere under the title Doctor Who.
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NASA launches the Ranger 4 lunar probe, built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and intended to go directly to the moon, transmitting pictures of the surface back to Earth until it impacts the lunar surface. Another attempt to successfully launch the modified design including a seismology probe, this is the first Ranger launch in which the Agena second stage works perfectly. Unfortunately, a failure in Ranger 4’s onboard computer sends it tumbling, unable to acquire communications with Earth. Tracking the transmitter of the seismology probe, NASA determines that Ranger 4 indeed slams into the lunar far side, but without taking or transmitting a single picture, still resulting in a mission failure.
The 114th episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC. This is part four of the story now collectively known as The Celestial Toymaker. This is the only episode of this story not missing from the BBC’s archives.
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The first flight of the Soviet Union’s new manned space vehicle, Soyuz 1, lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Though designed to accomodate a crew of three – and intended to be the answer to NASA’s Apollo command/service module in the ongoing race to reach the moon – the first Soyuz is flown by test pilot (and close friend of Yuri Gagarin) Vladimir Komarov. Though early plans for the mission involve a rendezvous and docking with a second Soyuz, only one vehicle is available for the mission, and it suffers a series of technical problems. Though aware of the faults in the Soyuz design, engineers have been pressured to put a manned Soyuz in orbit for political reasons.
ABC premieres the made-for-TV movie Planet Earth, starring John Saxon, Ted Cassidy, Diana Muldaur and Majel Barrett. Created and co-written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Planet Earth is the second attempt to build a series pilot around the story of astronaut Dylan Hunt, frozen in suspended animation and reawakened only after the fall of human civilization by an organization called PAX. For the second time, this does not result in a series pickup, though the story of Dylan Hunt will form the basis of Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, a syndicated series produced in the early 2000s after Roddenberry’s death. 
The second episode of Terry Nation’s post-apocalyptic series Survivors airs on BBC1. Many of the series’ regular stars do not appear until this episode.
The eighth 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. Angus Scrimm (Phantasm) guest stars.
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ITV airs the 72nd episode of the anthology series Tales Of The Unexpected. Hayley Mills guest stars.
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The week-long national syndication window opens for the 67th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Michael Cavanaugh (Starman) guest stars.
Fox Network airs the 22nd and final episode of Kenneth Johnson’s sci-fi cop series Alien Nation, starring Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint. Despite the cliffhanger ending and a vocal fan base, the series is cancelled after its first season, but Fox will later revive it in a series of TV movies later in the decade.
Varese Sarabande releases a CD of Joel McNeely’s music for the multimedia project Star Wars: Shadow Of The Empire.
UPN airs the 63rd episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
Having completed the final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Best Brains closes up shop and vacates the building it occupied in Eden Prairie, Minnesota for much of the series’ run. A report on MST3K fan site The Satellite News mentions that smaller quarters will probably be set up elsewhere, primarily to store some of the show’s key props, though many of the props will be auctioned off by Best Brains over the summer; the show’s cast and crew are now officially unemployed.
Showtime airs the 96th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the 69th episode of the science fiction series Sliders, starring Jerry O’Connell, Cleavant Derricks, Kari Wuhrer, and Charlie O’Connell. Jerry Hardin (The X-Files) guest stars in the fourth season finale; this episode also marks the final appearance of Jerry or Charlie O’Connell in the series.
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Sci-Fi Channel premieres the sixth episode of Farscape. (Early episodes of this series are aired out of the producers’ preferred story order or, for that matter, production order.)
Sci-Fi Channel premieres the 24th episode of Lexx. This installment brings the second season to a close and propels the Lexx into an alternate universe.
Sci-Fi Channel premieres the 36th episode of Lexx. Nigel Bennett (Forever Knight) guest stars as Prince.
Big Finish Productions releases the 19th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Paul McGann and India Fisher. Nicholas Courtney appears as the Brigadier in a story closing out Big Finish’s first “season” of eighth Doctor adventures.
The week-long national syndication window opens for the 128th episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor.
The 85th episode of Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, airs in syndication, starring Robert Leeshock, Jayne Heitmeyer, and Von Flores. Cameron Daddo (F/X: The Series, She Spies) guest stars.
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John Williams‘ soundtrack from the movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones is released, with four different covers (CD contents do not change from cover to cover).
The 46th episode of the Star Trek prequel spinoff Enterprise premieres on UPN.
Big Finish Productions releases the 56th Doctor Who audio drama in its main monthly range, starring Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant.
The 703rd episode of Doctor Who (the fifth since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. Annette Badland guest stars. This is the conclusion of the new series’ first two-part story.
The 773rd episode of Doctor Who (the 75th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1, beginning the sixth season of the revived series. The episode sets up a time-bending paradox and guest stars Alex Kingston, Mark Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica) and W. Morgan Sheppard (Max Headroom), and introduces a new enemy, the Silents.
Syfy airs the 66th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Debrah Farentino (Earth 2), Ming-Na Wen (Agents Of SHIELD, The Book Of Boba Fett), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Tembi Locke (Sliders), and Felicia Day (Mystery Science Theater 3000) guest star.
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The 43rd episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Caity Lotz (Mad Men, Legends Of Tomorrow) guest stars.
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