Categories
Television

Tales Of Tomorrow: The Golden Ingot

Tales Of TomorrowThe 32nd episode of ABC’s science fiction anthology series, Tales Of Tomorrow, airs on ABC, with each episode’s opening titles proclaiming that the series is produced “in cooperation with the Science-Fiction League of America”, a collective of sci-fi writers including Isaac Asimov and Theodore Sturgeon among its members. This episode stars Gene Lockhart.

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

Categories
Luna Uncrewed Spaceflight

Luna 5: negative, it just impacted on the surface

Luna 5Following two years of aborted or otherwise unsuccessful attempts to launch another robotic lunar lander toward the moon, the Soviet Union sends Luna 5 on its way. Intended to be an automated soft-landing mission, Luna 5 encounters major technical problems as it coasts from Earth to the moon. It does eventually reach the moon, but does so out of control and unable to brake for a survivable landing; the plume of material created by the impact of the 3,000-pound Luna 5 is large enough to be spotted from Earth-based telescopes for several minutes.

Categories
Television

The Invaders: The Condemned

The InvadersThe 17th episode of Larry Cohen’s science fiction series The Invaders, starring Roy Thinnes and produced by Quinn Martin’s QM Productions, premieres on ABC. Ralph Bellamy (The Eleventh Hour, The Most Deadly Game) guest stars in an episode that concludes the series’ first season.

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

Categories
Mariner Uncrewed Spaceflight

Mariner 8 launched… and lost

Mariner 8NASA and JPL launch Mariner 8, the first of two identical “Mars ’71” orbiters designed to visit Mars. Where previous missions have simply flown past the red planet, Mariners 8 and 9 are intended to put themselves in orbit and remain there to map the majority of the Martian surface. The second stage of the Atlas-Centaur booster used to launch Mariner 8 fails, however, and the robotic Mars explorer crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. Some of its mission objectives are transferred to the identical Mariner 9, due for launch at the end of the month.

Categories
Star Trek Television

Star Trek: TNG: Conspiracy

Star Trek: The Next GenerationThe week-long national syndication window opens for the 24th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the goriest episode of the series’ entire run; even improved make-up effects in later seasons never quite match up to this story’s exploding head and torso (graphic visuals which any network with creative input or oversight would likely have nixed). Despite ending on an obvious cliffhanger, this story is never revisited by any later episodes or spinoff series.

More about Star Trek: The Next Generation in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Star Trek: The Next Generation now streaming on Paramount Plus

Categories
Television

Quantum Leap: M.I.A.

Quantum LeapNBC airs the 30th episode of Donald Bellisario’s science fiction series Quantum Leap, starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. Susan Diol guest stars in the second season finale.

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

Categories
Television

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Yoko Factor

Buffy The Vampire SlayerThe 76th episode of Joss Whedon’s supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, airs on the WB network. James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head, and Alyson Hannigan also star. David Boreanaz guest stars.

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

Categories
Television

Special Unit 2: The Waste

Special Unit 2UPN broadcasts the fifth episode of the supernatural crime comedy series Special Unit 2, starring Michael Landes (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman) and Alexondra Lee (Party Of Five).

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

Categories
Hayabusa Uncrewed Spaceflight

Hayabusa!

HayabusaJapan’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), launches the unmanned Hayabusa space probe on a mission to gather material from asteroid 25143 Itokawa. Intended to reach Itokawa in two years, and then return the asteroid samples to Earth in 2010, Hayabusa will also attempt to drop a small rover on Itokawa’s surface and will test an ion engine propulsion system. The name “Hayabusa” – translating to “peregrine falcon” – is only bestowed upon the spacecraft once it reaches space; prior to that, Hayabusa is known by its engineering designation, MUSES-C. A few months after Hayabusa’s launch, ISAS itself is renamed JAXA (the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency).