The Viking 1 unmanned space probe, built by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lifts off en route to the planet Mars. Intended to gather and study soil samples on-site on the Martian surface, Viking 1 will take eleven months to reach the red planet. Viking 1 is not the first attempt to land a spacecraft on Mars; the Soviet Union has been attempting such a feat since the 1960s.
NASA launches Voyager 2 (weeks ahead of Voyager 1), giving the unmanned space probe the best shot of taking advantage of a favorable planetary alignment known as the “Grand Tour”. Using a series of carefully calculated gravity assists, Voyager has the potential to visit all four of the major outer gas planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – in under 15 years without having to expend fuel to make the trip. If Voyager 2 survives long enough to visit Uranus or Neptune, it will become the first man-made spacecraft to visit either planet.
Activision releases the Pitfall! cartridge for the Atari VCS home video game system. Subtitled “The Adventure of Pitfall Harry” (implying that further adventures are yet to come), this becomes one of the Atari VCS’ “killer app” games, and is ported to other systems and updated for more modern platforms for decades to come.
CBS airs the pilot movie Nick Knight, starring Rick Springfield and John Kapelos, involving a police detective who lives a double life as a vampire. Though Nick Knight does not immediately lead to a series, the concept will be reworked (and largely recast, with only Kapelos appearing in both versions) as Forever Knight in 1992, which will run for three seasons.
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Forever Knight now streaming on Amazon Prime
Premium cable channel Showtime airs the 21st episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of Leslie Stevens’ 1960s science fiction anthology series. Beginning a tradition that will last much of the series’ run, the first season finale is a clip show whose bookend segments attempt to weave all of the season’s stories together into a larger narrative.
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Showtime airs the 107th episode of The Outer Limits, a revival of the 1960s science fiction anthology series. Megan Gallagher (Nowhere Man) guest stars in the fifth season finale.
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Sci-Fi Channel airs the 79th episode of the science fiction series Sliders, starring Cleavant Derricks, Kari Wuhrer, Robert Floyd, and Tembi Locke.
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Sliders now streaming on Amazon Prime
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Sci-Fi Channel premieres the 16th episode of Farscape. Kent McCord guest stars.
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Farscape now streaming on Amazon Prime
Pay cable channel Showtime premieres the 52nd episode of Stargate SG-1.
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Stargate SG-1 now streaming on Amazon Prime
Sci-Fi Channel airs the sixth episode of Stargate Atlantis. Alan Scarfe guest stars.
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Stargate Atlantis now streaming on Amazon Prime
Syfy airs the 50th episode of the science fiction series Eureka, starring Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Joe Morton. Debrah Farentino (Earth 2), James Callis (Battlestar Galactica), and Tembi Locke (Sliders) guest star.
More about Eureka in the LogBook and theLogBook.com Store
Eureka now streaming on Amazon Prime
Streaming service CBS All Access premieres the third episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, created by Mike McMahan (Rick & Morty) and starring Tawny Newsome (Space Force), Jack Quaid (The Boys), Noel Wells (Craig Of The Creek), Eugene Cordero (Other Space), Dawnn Lewis (A Different World, Futurama), and Jerry O’Connell (Sliders). Neil Casey (Other Space, Avenue 5) guest stars.
